Financial capitalist, merchant and industrial consolidator. Charles was born in Thomaston, Maine, the son of Benjamin Chapman, a shipbuilder and operator, and Sarah Tobey Flint. His father, after being adopted by a maternal uncle, was allowed by an act of the state legislature, to change his name to Flint. The Flint family eventually moved to New York where his father had charge of the mercantile firm of Chapman & Flint which had been founded (c 1837) in Maine. After his graduation (1858) from Brooklyn Polytechnic, Charles Ranlett Flint also entered the shipping business. During the 1870s he was a partner in the firm of Gilchrist, Flint & Company, and afterwards, in W. R. Grace & Company, commission merchants for the South American trade. In 1885 he joined the firm of Flint & Co., commission merchants, where he was to remain active for some two decades. The firm appears to have been an offshoot of Chapman & Flint, which had gradually evolved from ship-building and operation in Maine, to merchant banking and general merchandise trade in New York. During this period, and indeed earlier, Flint or his firm became involved in numerous commercial and financial ventures at home and abroad including schemes to supply foreign governments with armaments, munitions, and naval vessels. Included among the foreign ventures were the importation of crude rubber from Brazil, the fitting out in 1893 of a group of war vessels for the Brazilian government, the delivery in 1895 of a Chilean ship to Japan for its war against China, and the supplying of munitions to the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1894 Flint & Co. assigned its foreign trade dealings to Flint, Eddy & Co., and in 1899, its merchant fleet, to Flint, Dearborn & Co. Popularly known as the "Father of Trusts" Flint was responsible for some twenty-one industrial consolidations or mergers including the American Chicle Co., American Woolen Co., Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., Sen-Sen Chicle Co., United States Bobbin and Shuttle Co., and the United States Rubber Co. His attempt to merge the electric light and power interests when he became president (1880) of the United States Electric Company, however, proved a failure. His economic philosophy was based upon his conviction that trade follows price, and not the flag. He argued that if American industry were to compete effectively abroad against cheap foreign labor, it would have to constantly reduce its costs of production by investing in new technology, and that this could best be achieved through industrial consolidation. During the course of his business life Flint developed numerous relationships with diplomats and politicians. He served at various times as consul at New York for Chile, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He advised the government on trade policy and was appointed a delegate to the International American Conference (1889-90) held in Washington where he proposed the creation of an international bank for the promotion of foreign trade. During the Russian Revolution of 1917 he was chairman of the American Committee for the Encouragement of Democratic Government in Russia. Highly cultured and sophisticated with a pronounced literary bent, and despite a redoubtable talent for negotiation, Flint, in his personal life, was known for his gentleness of manner. Although his income was large he apparently never accumulated a large fortune. He was an avid sportsman, devoted to hunting, fishing and yachting. Flint retired from business affairs in 1931. His wife, Emma Kate Simmons whom he married in 1883, died in 1926. The following year he married Charlotte Reeves of Washington, D. C.