Edward G. Chace
{{Short description|American businessman}}
Edward Gould Chace (1882–1935) was an American businessman and an entrepreneur in textile manufacturing. Chace led the organization of the Fort Dummer Mills in Brattleboro, Vermont, a cotton mill,{{cite news | newspaper=The Vermont Phoenix | title=Enthusiastic for the Cotton Mills | date=September 30, 1910}} and he served as the founding manager.{{cite news | newspaper=The Vermont Phoenix | title=Brattleboro | date=October 4, 1912}} "More hands are employed this week at the Fort Dummer Mills cotton factory than at any previous time, there being 145 persons on the payroll. Manager Edward G. Chace says it is difficult to obtain help and that he would employ double the present force at once if they were available. Nearly 350 looms are running." He also served as a vice president and the treasurer of Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates,{{cite news | newspaper=The North Adams Transcript | title=Mill Executives Have Dinner Here; Berkshire and Greylock Mill Officials Dine | date=May 24, 1929 | page=7}} a predecessor of Berkshire Hathaway.
Early life and education
Chace was born to Arnold Buffum Chace and Eliza Greene Chace in Providence, Rhode Island on October 16, 1882. His father, Arnold Chace, served as the 11th chancellor of Brown University and studied Egyptology.{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Dr Arnold B. Chace of Providence; Chancellor of Brown University for the last 25 years and a cotton manufacturer | date=February 29, 1932}} Chace's grandmother, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, served as an activist in the women's rights and anti-slavery movements. His brother, Malcolm Greene Chace, won the National Intercollegiate Tennis Championship in three consecutive years; the International Tennis Hall of Fame inducted him in 1961. Chace was also a cousin of physicist Richard Chace Tolman and psychologist Edward Chace Tolman. Both were sons of Arnold Chace's sister.
Chace did his early studies at the University Grammar School, a private school in Providence. He then completed his high school education at Morristown School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Morristown, New Jersey in 1900. After studying at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, he earned his bachelor's degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1905. Chace then worked as a tax assessor in Lincoln, Rhode Island from 1906 to 1909.{{cite book | title=Sexennial Record of the Class of 1904 Yale College | author=Yale College, Class of 1904 | chapter=Edward Gould Chace | page=273}}
Textile work
After college, Chace began working at the Valley Falls Company, a family-run textile mill company in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. He served as an assistant treasurer{{cite book | title=Decennial Record of the Class of 1905, Williams College | chapter=Edward G. Chace | year=1915 | author=Williams College, Class of 1905}} of the mills from 1905 to 1909. Chace worked under his father, Arnold Chace,{{cite journal | journal=Western New England | volume=2 | issue=1 | title=What Brattleboro Did | year=1912}} who served as the treasurer of Valley Falls Company. (Arnold Chace had previously served as the manager of Valley Falls Company.) Chace's grandfather, Oliver Chace, founded Valley Falls Company in 1839.
In 1910, Chace led efforts to build the Fort Dummer Mills in Brattleboro, Vermont. He directed efforts to attain funding to construct the mill,{{cite news | newspaper=The Vermont Phoenix | title=Big Mill Is In Sight; Important Matters Discussed by Board of Trade | date=April 15, 1910}} and promoted its prospective impact to the area. After the mills' founding, Chace served as the manager of the Fort Dummer Mills. In 1929, the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company merged with Fort Dummer Mills, Valley Falls Company, Greylock Mills, and Coventry Company. Chace served as a vice president and the treasurer of the new company known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. Berkshire Associates had its offices in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Fuel and financial industry
Chace served as an assistant director of the Distribution Division of the United States Fuel Administration's Rhode Island state office. His brother, Malcolm Chace, headed the office.{{cite book | title=Report of the Administrative Division 1917-1919: Pt. I. Reports of the Bureau of State Organizations and of the Federal Fuel Administrators for the Various States and Districts | year=1917 | editor=George Edwin Howes | chapter=Rhode Island | page=328}} Established during World War I, the FFA managed conservation of U.S. energy resources under the Food and Fuel Control Act. It also established Daylight saving time. During his career, Chace also served as a director and president of Westminster Bank of Rhode Island.
Family
Chace married Christine MacLeod Chace on October 17, 1906. They had four daughters: Christine Chace Wallace, Eliza Chace Collins, Jessie Chace Hogg, and Margaret Chace.{{cite journal | journal=Smith Alumni Quarterly | date = November 1940 | volume = XXXII | issue= 1 | page=42 | title=In Memoriam: 1901 Christine MacLeod Chace | url = http://saq.smith.edu/i/527001-november-1940 | accessdate = January 1, 2016}}