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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-01-07 John D World Was Monopoly Board (Palm Beach Post)MacArthur — the Conservationist — Saved a Lot of Trees PALLESMi writal John-,. . a d cArthur oat a a &Abdul ot men # ,e wort w Monopoly with.tows hotels chunks of land and boardwalks. 4 Ord, t His life. resembled the- game�`, Go" with his birth Mares 6, 1 , sty th t u - the low -rent properti , acquiring one h at it away rn ng ahead to escape the verty that d haunted him in his childhood until he won at the tame called life. Theof card marked "chance" rate him as o America's tt.wc remaining billionaires Now there is —• Daniel K . Ladwig, "I never starter out to thake a great fortune-. I never put a price tag on illy efforts. 1 stayeA with it," c tsa.idin. a Canad4r. e filmed - shortly More he suffered a sfroke in the fail of irk,. He never fully reeoveri from the November.._x which covered up for was by Mitt who insisted he had lust choked on an ice cub;', and was suffering from extausiion. For a whim he went to a speech therapist, bet quit- when he got frustrated at his rate of recovery. It was hard for him to t.alk.me days he spoke clearly, but every sflitence. had be carefully thought o :t. Other days, he was barely adihi . • "My mind works falter th.arr my tones, � P he said two months after being released from his three-week hospital stint last year. MacArthur looked healthier after the stroke than before. He dropped his three -pack- a -day cigarette habit. and gained some weight. His once ashen cheeks gained co or Famed artist LeRoy .oy Neiman highlighted the bil- ii naire's lined f ace with pink when he sketched,. hip in l anti But the effects of the stroke were still Owe. His right hand never regained full strength. His sib. nature --- used to sealing million dollar• deals - had t = carefully drawn. letter by letter as if. by ho l Ile would tire in the evenings, but he never iota hip er se of humor He alwayf.ii loved to joike around, the tone he dressed in a waiter's uniform: and served comedian Hope coffee in bed, • Most of the time, his mind was quick and witty. He ;nsist.ed on working until the time of his death and he. maintained has reputation for wing "salty —tongued" and • erust `. reporters' descrii,Aimis of him. having r MacArthur enjoyed a tifice been ono for the Chica:4 fierakinto&& . was dubbed "The Accessible 9illea4ire by t Canadi- an film d„ri'u lent rV i have always talked to every reporter from every need he said in a letter tc The Pal Beach Post in 197l "I taker the position that the public is entitled to .. what or not do. t might directly or know �,,. 1 Ala., to do � ��c19. l�r ecti d affect some of their livet- He wasn't exa . ge=rating. He was Pate Beach Coun- ty s largest. landowner and one of the Largest in the states He owned 45 companies and e pfoyecd about 15,- people : • But things weren't always like that for the eighth- F ade dropout dL Humble Boginningt John Donald MacArthur was the seventh and last child of Georgtana Welstead and William 'pelf er .ae,Ar- thw Born to Pittsto-tm . Pa.. he was the sofil of farmer turned sell -ordained minister who was alto the son of a Belt-ordamed minister who wa also the son of a sell- ordained minister After dropp gmg out of school, MacArthur served ag his father's assistant, for two years before moving to 1..3hncag where he went to wort it has oldest brother Alfred's insurance company. Within three months, he worked his --ay up •being the frompany's top sole&n� an, but he WM. tetappy and ►� went to work with his hrc�t��erCha. �,,. the Chicago Herald i xarnmer. (Charles went on to dome a fanned playwright and was co-author of 'The. Front Page"). After a sh a:o -t. stint as police re r T . , thur � rat noel to working tor Alfred: ,� 4, where he became a pilot in the al Flying Corpoin the F . Toronto. But instead of e Royal yin bor-.ps e s g �,.,�,E., tc butt 1. like he'd hoped, MacArthur was tent to �a�r�9a � � - - Texas as a flight instructor. uring his firs;. several -months there, he crashed three planes.. Injured in one of the crasho and fail a .;, - e � a� eror British court-martial, MacArthur wall sti battle, He went AWOL and stowed away on a troop transport ship headed for Europe: - MacArthur liked to tell the store. It was me of his favorites. He was scared and hunk& in with a.. soldier who befriended him, answering to someone eise's Haime when rcD was called. at worked for a while.. •� a �th p But it. was a pretty reporter named Judy McCarthy who saved his neck and changed. ed. the arm of his : tu- ture. The two had shared a short, rom mantic fling before he left on the ship. She wrote a moving account of a brave, wounded young man, determined to serve his country in battle even if he had to stow away on a ship to do i t . The st,c�r �� waspicked. pic�uparound the world. MacArthur was suddenly a war hero, He even a pension and the War- Department ender up eending him on a speaking tour to encourage other youas met• to be patrion L Through the years, he stayed in touch with Judy McCarthy until she died, She never married, he said. "John MacArthur is like a cat. No matter how he is dropped, he always lands on his feet," the Miami Herald wrote in 1 Luck played an important part. in his climb to the top. but not nearly as large a part as d tertflina.tit s drive, long hours and the willingness to take a dot's blended with a sales pitch that could melt the heart -of an Eskim << "I've been the luckiest guy in the world. 1 was i the right place at the right time,„ he told David Ftost during an interview several years ago. Edit was kind of like the braille system. 1'd stumble around, bump something and makes money.'. - He married 1. utse ingats . who is the mother of hie two children: Roderick john , born in 1920 and Virginia, who was boril in 1922. He was not close to either of thetr and once said he considered there disappoint- ments. He had seven gradchiir . Dire*. to the Tod .:.or years; MacArthur tried unsuccessfully to get Louise to grant him a divorce, Separated from her and the children, MacArthur fell in love with Alfred s secK - ry, Catherine Hyland. in 1,926, he flew to Mexico for a .ivorce mild ar- ed Catherine. It wasn't until 1937 that L t i.se f In i?y reed to give him an American divorce. It was with Catherine that he began to kuldh s pre Together in 1928, the twc of them bought Meg,. tte Life Insurance nsurance Co They st.ruggl '`' to keep it together during, to pression, Masirthur said atone time sets were down to about $15 and the gOVOITOr was eateniz g to close down what he called bb yaby-night" rations RBut. 1 I AD hold it together," he recently recallcd, fling. In 19 , MacArthur borrowed V2,500 to purchase kers Life and Casualty Co — now the lareeet stock. pany of individual health and accident- polities in nation and the second largest in the world. "They handed me the company. 1 put it in the Mick the car. 1 had a directors meeting' en the way and ted myself president," he kidded. What the man did — taking a few dollars and turn - a bankrupt company into the cornerstone of a bii- Ndollar empire — could not be duplicated may: cArthur said Today, you'd d �e �i Y k s n capital to start, ram you could go to, Lag Vegas and make a bid. Eat it F id not be done agar the way we did it,�4 be said. Scmet Pt m mg that set Macau* apart ft .:' . buineggmen is that he wasn't afraid to try_ news o even if it. meant gambling with last d iP r. Bankers Life grew y sell $1 insurance pooletes = through ne sp r s , t` t a dollit to Ac„e„ 114 stitt 1. spare, ice a A`« � i �d: .-4 ` ' - ti d = �^ cl'..�3 Nti " Ittdi never € tried &d rneney came pour~ ice ix His pb a:�,tice% cif e .i. der- sharp rt tin , t eery and. V 19.51, MacArthur was investigated by insurance -dtrAitinAtS lit 14 stat , W: the Florida State Insurance Department. c IsheAtthir and 'fakers Life of y improper tutver,n ;f_f mo t es after questioning television i r ercials done by, com it t r Paul Harvey without d t °a Floridalicense to sell inuranc . Since Harvey was paid by ABC to plug advertisers • and rot, the company directly, the department found no faint: Harvey, a close friend of I acArtht r's, is a trust- ee of the foundation which now controls Bankers Life. "I'm. no genius,," MacArthur said shortly. before his stroke. One man never built anything worthwhile by himself. I was just r`G i ���c 74Yna'. enough to contact the right people. I have a great wife and without her, I would never have made it. MacArthur was the sole stoekhol.der of Bankers Life until October 1974 when he resigned as president aid put all the shares into a tax-exempt. charitable foundation. He became chairman of the board and chief executive officer, naming Catherine, his son and ar- O vey : as foundation trustees. � It should be no wonder to you. 1. use this ra€ s picture. to shave by." Harvey said at MacAr thur's 80th birthday celebration it E Chicago. "He's buttered the toast, for the Harveys going on a third generation now And unashamedly as long as I can: 1 will sit at his feet and iearn as ouch as I'm able to absorb. - Every March, Bankers Lie has held a "Mares for MacArthur" durinp, which. salesmen strived for their best month of sales in honor of the Skipper's" birth- day. But Bankers Life -is just one of 1.3 insurance corn panle;:r iw owned, His collection included: Bankers Mul- tiple. Life Insurance Co. ; Certified Life Insurance Co. o4. California: Constitution Life Insurance Co.: Marquette Life Insurance Co.; Protection Mutual insurance Co. of Pennsylvania: Southeastern Title and Insurance Cr. ; Gotham Life Insurance Co. of New York: Union Bank- ers Insurance Co.; Western American Life insurance Co. and Western Life Assurance Co. of Hamilton. Ohio. insurance wasi;'t MacArthur's only interest Be owned about 30 other companies; 100,000 acres of land in Florida; land in Illinois, Arizc . Georgia, 'Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin; hotels,. golf courses, paper: mills., farms, 61 buildings in New Wort City alone: utili- ty firms; oil wells; real estate firms; restaurants. a car rental firm and a liquor firm whiqp named a bottle of whisky after hini Big and Little Munvon islands. in the Intracoastal Waterwaywere his SO .was 2,5 miles of ocea€, to lake- front property running frog . the Riviera Beact: city limits north to Lost Tree Village . He was also the sole stockholder of Citizens Bans- and Trust Co., which second targes.t bank And the list goes o . When MacArthur visited Chicago last March, his empioyees would point. Dolt: various buildings -and land he owned, saying: "You ou owri this building or "You Y ors own that block" as they drove through the city . - He owneid the RAI Country Club in Palm. Beach Gardens. In fact.. there was no Past Beach Gardens before MacArthur. He developed the town in 1 59, t.h.e same year he. ca_-r::e to Florida.. He wanted.an inter- change to his new community when Florida's °1urri.pike was being constructed and when the state said- thepop- ulation wasn`t, large enough to warrant one.. he agreed to pay for it himself. The $45,0,000 expenditure is said t . have increased the value of his land holdings by mil- lions. He still owned most of the undeveloped land west of the city. at the time of his dear Around the state, he had a 10Y3X-acre cattle and citrus ranch in Highlands County where he would es- cape occasionally -for relaxation : 32,000 acres in Sara►soi to County and about 10,000 acres in. the, Orlando area. "I bought a lot more land than I needed in Florid? and I won't live; long enough develop ail of it." he, nr niece d iri I.976 Tha Sample Lift MacArthur always lived simply. Until he moved t_3 his Colonnades Beach Rotel on Singer Island in 1966, h - and Catherine lived in a small.,modest home i2 Lake Park His two-story apartment with an ocean view from the side patio was comfortably, but modestly furns: she :- T e s1:a -beck had a cover over it to save it from weafe He &VI Ise dressing up and most of the time wore a sports Min mut slacks. When he wore a coat, .it was malty iFL',011frim Life jacket, made from his Lily' amen FAsid Scotch. tartan. The pocket bore the Wilily crest, The material came from a fabrics ~will f (Aimed 41i the Carolinas. The hillictinstire was 79 years old the first. and Dray time he ever wore tails : The occasion was a televise state diner at the White House f r the queen of . �. 1 �y�y pp (��v {� most .{y,y� �q �f'�, �� pp pt ` E men. - He is the most common of &mcuxt : i,.fn I�eri . ,.. of his Bankers Life employees once said. He didn't have a fancy office and didn't want one. Most of his dealings were done at a corner table in thy, Colonnades coffee shop. Beside the table are two telephones he used constantly, one. a national WATS H hind fns chair, a pot of coffee say: warming on a burner ready for reach. He drank More than 2.0 cups day. He had no fear of being kidnaped, brushed off the idea of having bodyguards and drove himself wherever he wanted to go. In 1971, MacArthur said the FBI had -discovered an alleged plot to kidnap him for ransom. but he refused protection and iioked about the incident 3`here"s no defense .against a madman. And they'd know that rhos ody d put up any money f ,_ r c way someone could get something from me would be t go out and dig up the land the county's biggest land- holder said smiling Once some Banters Life employ- es worried aboui his safety and sent a man down from Chicago to keep an eye on the insurance magi -late. but as Bankers Life President Bob Ewing recalled, MacArthur discovered the man right away and sent him packing Waste Not,. ktkcvnt Not The peppery billionaire prided himself on living up to the Sco4icy reputation for being frugal. It's what helped make hits first a millionaire and then a billion - a i r€e „Scotsmen are supposed to be very Light ---- cheap is a better word for it. I've never denied it 1 inherited it My father was a Scotsman even if he was: born in New York City three days after the boat landed,- MacArthur once said. - Anvtirne something can be put to good use I'm tickled He always flew tourist. On a flight to Chicago t6 celebrate his 80th birthday, he leaned over and asked the stranger .next to him • if he was going to, eat his untouched piece of pecan pie. Assured d was • unwanted .. he gin-gerly wrapped it in a napkin, leaked to see if a stewardess was watching and stuffed it in his trawl bad=, His loyal top employees at Bankers Life smile when, they ey tell tales of "the Slipperr" saving fruit from hock: room baskets His Chicago birthday celebration in March was rio exception to what had become a way of life From hi plate at a morning banquet for more than ) ernploi ees, he scraped leftover bacon and sausage into a• cloth i►apkin and slipped the. bundle} into his green plans s-i F Several years ago, when one ut his Palm Beach holdings --- the everglades Hotels was being torn down. he stopped to pick up a soft. drink bottle. com meriting he could turn it in for 2 cent ta�r tO tell people. "I'm Scotch' Ace- liAr ebitgmxi, a • V" maf 4v-the:early 1970s.. MacArthur lov€d to play lawyer and- had great fur- representing himself when called on the carpet t,' the county or a municipality for zoning building'or health regulations • His wheekr,dealer.. come -out -the -winner image. for iowed him into the courtroom Once in 1971, he decided to be hp,, own lawyer: when hauled into Palm Beach Gardens Municipal (ourt cause ills employees failed to obtain a permit to cut through a city street The city ordinance provided tor a sentence of 5 00 and or 90 dav v1 Jail for violation Of the 44w. MacArthur pleaded gk. "How would vou respond -to dfl offer ot a negwilatti, plea of guilty and a tine of $259- asked Municipal Judo. Eugene Bie "I')l split. the difference with you Make it $12.-4) Arc; ou ve ot a deal- MacArthur said after cond.: ing the offer for several seconds The judge accerit,,, You can't crowd your luck, MacArthur commented He flew in. from Cticago in March 1972 to represent himself -at a hearing .before the county's Environmental Control Hearing, Board. The 'ealth 1..)epartment had charged that the hotel's kitchen waste was being dis- charged through the Palm Beach Shores storm drainage system. He was found m violation Back in the late Ws when MacArthur was having legal problems with Palm Beach Shores Town Att.. Angus (..:ampbell described the situation as "a big man versus a small town MacArthur always wanted to be in; the swing of things and loved- to push aside employees whether attorneys or gardeners to do the job hirri.9,0 There was the time right around his 79tti birthday that smoke was discovered in one of the rooms at the Colonnades each Hotel. lie covered hi% head with a wet towel arid crawled aioo tito floor to lead a brigade of fire fighters down.a smoke -filled haway to a room where a small fire did about $1,200 worth of dAmage Then there was the recovery of the famed 103-carat Det..ong ruby in 1145. MacArthur playedthe key rok He jsfl Tanzon) may MOO result.- ed in the recativry of the gem atop A ledge in a ttie- ptone booth $ the Lake *rib interebtotp to the turnpike. Say- 44 pit up the roomy tf, a tervice and a tat t MacArtht went to °flies of ;lorry Thomas, titairavo, of the board of First Marine Bank in Fivera **eh, and hay.'"4. the my to a free-lance writer who served as go-between in the exchange. Otte of the billioraire's favorite jobs wassaving tr,,t,g doomed for destruction. LA MI, ite received nationwide attention when be 'e a Men, 54-foot high banyan tree and moved it i tg the temp. of P-sAi.- Beach Gardew. A cable WI* ft was crossing a ragroad track by track and tree was )eft standing uptight in the traldle of the trm,,.. *whiie Life Migazinetin a Dictum of it. Last years MacArthur saved another big banyan that was about to be torn down and moved it to the i entrance of coe of his north county developments. Aid then there were some towering royal palm trees that !levied to make way for progress. He moved them from; Palm /leach to his JDM Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens. In May, he relocated some giant Norfolk island pines in the backyard of the Colonnades Beach Hotel, The eldeey binionaire ioved to supervise the pro- jectz, standing in the hot sun for hours , advising his men on where the trees should go. He did Johnny Apples one better. Pied Piper of Ma Courtg MacArthur was like the Pied Piper when it came to attacking lawsuits. Newspaper files are stuffed with ac- counts, "John MacArthur Sued for $100,0DO:' "MacA.r- thur Sued Over Promissory Note:" "PGA Files Suit Vs. MacArthur "Billionaire Sued Over Used Goods; "Evicted Widow Sues — Asks Millions From Tycoon:' "Libel, Slander Suit. by Parish Cites MacArthur;" "Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Mactirthuv." in November, he settled a lawsuit brought against. him over the purchase of Frenchman's Creek develop ment west of Juno Beach by handing over a cashier's check for $1 million. The money went to Universal Profile inc.- for back payment of stock MacArthur allegedly agreed to buy in the development. He claimed he was "conned" in the deat OF* of the most controversial cases he has been involved in began in BM when he evicted Adeline K. Moffett, once one of the worlds richest women, for failing to pay rent oil a $150-a-month Palrn Beach apartrnent he owned. The elderly widow of the late chairman of the board of. Standard Oil of New Jersey won an $80,000 judgment stemming from water damage toantique fur- niture she claimed was destroyed when the apartment roof leaked in 1969 and from back injuries she said resulted from slipping on the wet floor. Claiming she was maliciously evicted and suffered humiliation, Mrs Moffett, 79. sued MacArthur for $200.:1 In May. the Florida Supreme Court, by refusing 1„.0 hear the case, upheld a lower court order requiring Lhe insurance magnate to disclose in writing his net worth., The case has -not yet gOne te rto MacArthur said theo he wasn't well enough to d,' the work required to determine the value or. his hold- tog,s, He said in late September he wasn't going to corn - ply with the order At. would take a battery of ac,2ountarits, working fulltirrie for several m, onths to untangle his fitincial web. There are dozens and dozens of corpora - bons in which he is the sole stockholder," said Elmer Holnig.rert. head of. MacArthur's legal department. In a separate case. Circuit Court judge Vaughn Rudnick ruled rant June that MacArthur would have to answer w-rittep questions about whether he persuaded one of Jceteph D. Farish Jr.'s clients to drop him as a lawyer. 'Citing MacArthur's poor health, his attorney con- vinced Rudnick the billionaire ought not be forcedto testify in a $10.5 million civil suit by FarisIL "If a man who owns an empire such as this matt does can hold coort and conduct a busing rneer 'hag: fop': two or three hours, he can certainly give a deposition.," Parish's attorney argued unsuccessfully, Farigh is stung MacArthur for skinder and libel, saying he kt,4,,..e and wrote letter's to a woman suggiast- ing she drop garish as her attoriOr lttia suit agaitut companies connected to in, ist, the fedoraf government tlied a i3 mu- . lice lawsuit clairtift MacArthur and officers of 12 cm-- porations participated_ in fraudulent land dedings on Florida's West Coast. The Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment (HUD) filed charges claiming false promotions gimmicks by developers of Holley -by -the -Sea develop- ment between Pensacola arid Fort Walton Beach: MacArthur's name was included as chairman of Bankers Life. Several Bankers Life subsidiaries also were named. MacArthur derided the charges along with Rankers Life President Robert Ewing.- 4 1 i it LOB He was a busy man, but he always had time for animals. Happy and IC his two silver miniature poodik, have the run of his apartment. A. table drawer is filled with rubber squeaky toys he would hold up while the dogs danced, and then to :cross is ` room for them to chase. • The courtyard of the Colonnades Beach itote is covered with ducks. Plump ducks,. half-grown gangly ducks, fuzzy little ducklings. MacArthur loved to watch them from his picture window in the cofie shop. Often he would stop a conversation to point out a fine of little ducklings heading to a man-made pond for a drink He saved them bread and table scraps from breakfast and Iwwh. Once he helped rescue a 1o54V-poume beached whak and in 1964, he tried to E save Warren, a wounded sea cow. Doctors operated it a canal or the sea cow whit had been gashed by a boat propeller, but Warren -disar: peared and doctors believed he died. When MacArthur found time to escape to his " Island Ranch across Lake Okeechobee for relaxation. he• would play with the dogs and even spend time pet. ting the bulls and trying t' hand feed them. He didn't want people to think him philanthro c but one of his pet charities was therir4.,,`:°_. League. Unloading The announcement came in August. MacArthiff, same man who five years earlier had evicted t ra Pit. fessional Golfer < Association (PGA) from its. Palm Beach Gardens home, had agreed to sell 2.:NO acres for the association's new home . The land, estimated to be valued at about $30 il- lion, is bounded by the turnpike on the east. PGA Boulevard on the north, Cana) C.S. on• the wee and Northlake Boulevard on the south: The PGA is planning three cha np onsthii: gol courses, headqua ters, hall of fame clubhouse and uni versity and education 'center on the property Ironically'. MacArthur had been the landltAt for the PGA from 1.964 through March on, He served an evic- tion notice on the PGA in November 1972 over a con.. t.ractual dispute and the following spring the headquar, ters of the national organization were moved to another site. MacArthur's next major deal came e in October. Fk. finalized the sale of the Bi/trnore Hotel, a Paler Beach landmark. to developer Stanley .1: Harte for. .34 rail - lion: MacArthur bought the hotel in MO for $1 5 mi or and Harte tried to acquire it shortly thereafter, only to have the deal fall through just. before the closing, teen this time, the cagy acArth.ur failed to show at the fiat date set for the cl€sing, Harte sighed with relief when the 'exchange finally' took place MacArthur tucked a cashier's check for $250,000 as a down payment in his pocket and grinned when a waitress le his hotel walked by shrugging her shoulders_kand remarking .� `Another day, another .. o a Sr 1' he atuntord upbig life four-,.