Horace H. Rackham | |
---|---|
Born | Harrison, Michigan, U.S. | June 20, 1858
Died | June 12, 1933 | (aged 74)
Occupation | Lawyer |
Spouse | Mary A. Horton |
Parent(s) | Simon Rackham and Avery Rackman[citation needed] |
Horace Hatcher Rackham (June 27, 1858 – June 12, 1933)[1] was one of the original stockholders in the Ford Motor Company and a noted philanthropist.
Rackham was born in Harrison, Michigan.[2] He graduated from high school in Leslie, Michigan, in 1878. In 1879, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, to work for Berry Brothers. In 1884, he began studying law under the employ of Adolph Sloman and was admitted to the Bar in 1885. The next year, he married Mary A. Horton (1864-1947) of Fenton, Michigan.[2]
In 1894, he partnered with John W. Anderson to open a law firm. The partnership was very successful, counting among their clients Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit coal dealer.
Horace Rackham and his wife Mary supported the University of Michigan by donating his law library, sponsoring anthropological expeditions, and underwriting creative arts fellowships. Most significantly, when he died in 1933, Rackham left $100,000 in his will expressly to support graduate student loans. The Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the university is named after him, as is the Rackham Building, built in 1938, in which the school is housed.[10] In addition, the Horace H. Rackham Education Memorial Building in Detroit, intended for use by the Extension Service of the University of Michigan and the Engineering Society of Detroit,[11] was built in 1940 using money willed to the University.[12] The Rackhams were also the patrons of the 1938 Rackham School of Special Education on Eastern Michigan University campus in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
After the death of Mary Rackham in 1947, the Horace H. and Mary A. Rackham Fund was created. The fund was to be used expressly "for such benevolent, charitable, educational, scientific, religious and public purposes ... will promote the health, welfare, happiness, education, training and development of men, women and children, particularly the sick, aged, young, erring, poor, crippled, helpless, handicapped, unfortunate and underprivileged, regardless of race, color, religion or station."[5]
From 1924 to 1928, Rackham was the first president of the Detroit Zoological Commission, which negotiated with the city for support for the zoo.[13] In 1924, Rackham purchased acres of land in what is now Huntington Woods, Michigan, near land owned by the Detroit Zoological Society.[5] Through his friend and Detroit mayor James Couzens, Rackham anonymously promised to donate the land to Detroit if voters would approve financing for the Detroit Zoo.[14] A millage was approved, and Rackham followed through by giving 22 acres (8.9 ha) of his purchase to the Zoo for use as a parking lot; the Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain at the zoo bears his name. The remaining acreage was given to the city of Detroit, explicitly for use as a public golf course. In 1925 the Rackham Golf Course, reportedly the first 18-hole course constructed in Michigan, opened to the public[5]
A species of Central American lizard, Xenosaurus rackhami, is named in his honor.[15]