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Would suggest Ambassador William Hewitt should be considered as "famous" not only as an ambassador but as a major leader of industry - John Deere - the largest Farm Equipment manufacturer in the world...
Information provided by Find a Grave contributor: Mark C. (46880866)
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New York Times, May 22, 1998
William Hewitt, 83, Responsible For Overseas Expansion of Deere
William A. Hewitt, who transformed Deere & Company from a midsized Midwestern tractor company to the world's largest producer of agricultural equipment, died on Saturday at his home in Rutherford, California. He was 83.
The cause was a heart attack, his family said.
As the longtime chief executive of Deere, Mr. Hewitt was responsible for the company's international expansion, which helped Deere's sales surge from less than $300 million when he became president in 1955 to more than $5 billion by the time of his retirement as chairman in 1982. But Mr. Hewitt's boldest decision may have been to commission Eero Saarinen, the internationally known architect, to build a modern company headquarters in the middle of cornfields in Moline, Illinois. When the building was completed in 1964, it was greeted with almost universal praise, from both employees and architecture critics. And the building has stood the test of time; Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New York Times, described the building in 1978 as "one of the most beautifully sited structures in contemporary American architecture," with an atmosphere of "utter dignity and serenity."
William Alexander Hewitt was born in San Francisco in 1914, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 with a degree in economics. He served in the Navy in World War II, and retired as a lieutenant commander.
In 1948, Mr. Hewitt married Patricia Deere Wiman -- the daughter of Deere's chief executive and the great-great-granddaughter of the original John Deere, who invented a steel plow in 1837 -- and then joined the company.
After a stint in Deere's San Francisco sales office, Mr. Hewitt moved to Moline in 1954 to become Executive Vice President of the company. The next year, after his father-in-law died, he became President.
During his tenure, Deere became one of the first companies to recognize -- and profit from -- the shift in agriculture from small family farms to larger commercial operations.
Mr. Hewitt believed businessmen should have broad interests, and he did. He was active in civic affairs, collected art and owned a vineyard in Napa Valley. With his wife, who died in 1992, he raised horses.
In addition to serving as a director of several large public companies, Mr. Hewitt was on the board of many institutions involved in architecture, foreign aid and international affairs. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Ambassador to Jamaica, where he served until 1985.
He is survived by two daughters, Anna Wolfe of Des Moines, N.M., and Adrienne Hewitt of Middleburg, Va.; a son, Alexander, of Denver; a sister, Adrienne Gordon, of San Francisco, and a brother, Edward T. Hewitt, of New York.
Information provided by David Smith (retired Deere employee).
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Would suggest Ambassador William Hewitt should be considered as "famous" not only as an ambassador but as a major leader of industry - John Deere - the largest Farm Equipment manufacturer in the world...
Information provided by Find a Grave contributor: Mark C. (46880866)
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New York Times, May 22, 1998
William Hewitt, 83, Responsible For Overseas Expansion of Deere
William A. Hewitt, who transformed Deere & Company from a midsized Midwestern tractor company to the world's largest producer of agricultural equipment, died on Saturday at his home in Rutherford, California. He was 83.
The cause was a heart attack, his family said.
As the longtime chief executive of Deere, Mr. Hewitt was responsible for the company's international expansion, which helped Deere's sales surge from less than $300 million when he became president in 1955 to more than $5 billion by the time of his retirement as chairman in 1982. But Mr. Hewitt's boldest decision may have been to commission Eero Saarinen, the internationally known architect, to build a modern company headquarters in the middle of cornfields in Moline, Illinois. When the building was completed in 1964, it was greeted with almost universal praise, from both employees and architecture critics. And the building has stood the test of time; Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New York Times, described the building in 1978 as "one of the most beautifully sited structures in contemporary American architecture," with an atmosphere of "utter dignity and serenity."
William Alexander Hewitt was born in San Francisco in 1914, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 with a degree in economics. He served in the Navy in World War II, and retired as a lieutenant commander.
In 1948, Mr. Hewitt married Patricia Deere Wiman -- the daughter of Deere's chief executive and the great-great-granddaughter of the original John Deere, who invented a steel plow in 1837 -- and then joined the company.
After a stint in Deere's San Francisco sales office, Mr. Hewitt moved to Moline in 1954 to become Executive Vice President of the company. The next year, after his father-in-law died, he became President.
During his tenure, Deere became one of the first companies to recognize -- and profit from -- the shift in agriculture from small family farms to larger commercial operations.
Mr. Hewitt believed businessmen should have broad interests, and he did. He was active in civic affairs, collected art and owned a vineyard in Napa Valley. With his wife, who died in 1992, he raised horses.
In addition to serving as a director of several large public companies, Mr. Hewitt was on the board of many institutions involved in architecture, foreign aid and international affairs. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Ambassador to Jamaica, where he served until 1985.
He is survived by two daughters, Anna Wolfe of Des Moines, N.M., and Adrienne Hewitt of Middleburg, Va.; a son, Alexander, of Denver; a sister, Adrienne Gordon, of San Francisco, and a brother, Edward T. Hewitt, of New York.
Information provided by David Smith (retired Deere employee).
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Would suggest Ambassador William Hewitt should be considered as "famous" not only as an ambassador but as a major leader of industry - John Deere - the largest Farm Equipment manufacturer in the world...
Information provided by Find a Grave contributor: Mark C. (46880866)
-----------------
-----------------
New York Times, May 22, 1998
William Hewitt, 83, Responsible For Overseas Expansion of Deere
William A. Hewitt, who transformed Deere & Company from a midsized Midwestern tractor company to the world's largest producer of agricultural equipment, died on Saturday at his home in Rutherford, California. He was 83.
The cause was a heart attack, his family said.
As the longtime chief executive of Deere, Mr. Hewitt was responsible for the company's international expansion, which helped Deere's sales surge from less than $300 million when he became president in 1955 to more than $5 billion by the time of his retirement as chairman in 1982. But Mr. Hewitt's boldest decision may have been to commission Eero Saarinen, the internationally known architect, to build a modern company headquarters in the middle of cornfields in Moline, Illinois. When the building was completed in 1964, it was greeted with almost universal praise, from both employees and architecture critics. And the building has stood the test of time; Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New York Times, described the building in 1978 as "one of the most beautifully sited structures in contemporary American architecture," with an atmosphere of "utter dignity and serenity."
William Alexander Hewitt was born in San Francisco in 1914, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 with a degree in economics. He served in the Navy in World War II, and retired as a lieutenant commander.
In 1948, Mr. Hewitt married Patricia Deere Wiman -- the daughter of Deere's chief executive and the great-great-granddaughter of the original John Deere, who invented a steel plow in 1837 -- and then joined the company.
After a stint in Deere's San Francisco sales office, Mr. Hewitt moved to Moline in 1954 to become Executive Vice President of the company. The next year, after his father-in-law died, he became President.
During his tenure, Deere became one of the first companies to recognize -- and profit from -- the shift in agriculture from small family farms to larger commercial operations.
Mr. Hewitt believed businessmen should have broad interests, and he did. He was active in civic affairs, collected art and owned a vineyard in Napa Valley. With his wife, who died in 1992, he raised horses.
In addition to serving as a director of several large public companies, Mr. Hewitt was on the board of many institutions involved in architecture, foreign aid and international affairs. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Ambassador to Jamaica, where he served until 1985.
He is survived by two daughters, Anna Wolfe of Des Moines, N.M., and Adrienne Hewitt of Middleburg, Va.; a son, Alexander, of Denver; a sister, Adrienne Gordon, of San Francisco, and a brother, Edward T. Hewitt, of New York.
Information provided by David Smith (retired Deere employee).
-----------------
Would suggest Ambassador William Hewitt should be considered as "famous" not only as an ambassador but as a major leader of industry - John Deere - the largest Farm Equipment manufacturer in the world...
Information provided by Find a Grave contributor: Mark C. (46880866)
-----------------
-----------------
New York Times, May 22, 1998
William Hewitt, 83, Responsible For Overseas Expansion of Deere
William A. Hewitt, who transformed Deere & Company from a midsized Midwestern tractor company to the world's largest producer of agricultural equipment, died on Saturday at his home in Rutherford, California. He was 83.
The cause was a heart attack, his family said.
As the longtime chief executive of Deere, Mr. Hewitt was responsible for the company's international expansion, which helped Deere's sales surge from less than $300 million when he became president in 1955 to more than $5 billion by the time of his retirement as chairman in 1982. But Mr. Hewitt's boldest decision may have been to commission Eero Saarinen, the internationally known architect, to build a modern company headquarters in the middle of cornfields in Moline, Illinois. When the building was completed in 1964, it was greeted with almost universal praise, from both employees and architecture critics. And the building has stood the test of time; Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New York Times, described the building in 1978 as "one of the most beautifully sited structures in contemporary American architecture," with an atmosphere of "utter dignity and serenity."
William Alexander Hewitt was born in San Francisco in 1914, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 with a degree in economics. He served in the Navy in World War II, and retired as a lieutenant commander.
In 1948, Mr. Hewitt married Patricia Deere Wiman -- the daughter of Deere's chief executive and the great-great-granddaughter of the original John Deere, who invented a steel plow in 1837 -- and then joined the company.
After a stint in Deere's San Francisco sales office, Mr. Hewitt moved to Moline in 1954 to become Executive Vice President of the company. The next year, after his father-in-law died, he became President.
During his tenure, Deere became one of the first companies to recognize -- and profit from -- the shift in agriculture from small family farms to larger commercial operations.
Mr. Hewitt believed businessmen should have broad interests, and he did. He was active in civic affairs, collected art and owned a vineyard in Napa Valley. With his wife, who died in 1992, he raised horses.
In addition to serving as a director of several large public companies, Mr. Hewitt was on the board of many institutions involved in architecture, foreign aid and international affairs. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Ambassador to Jamaica, where he served until 1985.
He is survived by two daughters, Anna Wolfe of Des Moines, N.M., and Adrienne Hewitt of Middleburg, Va.; a son, Alexander, of Denver; a sister, Adrienne Gordon, of San Francisco, and a brother, Edward T. Hewitt, of New York.
Information provided by David Smith (retired Deere employee).
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