Ira Nelson Morris (March 8, 1875 – January 15, 1942) was an American author and diplomat appointed the United States Minister to Sweden, serving from 1914 to 1923. In 1913 he was appointed the Commissioner General to Italy, on behalf of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition.
After graduation, Morris worked for his father in the meat-packing industry. He became involved in social problems and philanthropy, and was a member of the Chicago Peace Society and a foreign delegate to the American Peace Conference.[5] After leaving his father's company he served as the president of Union Rending Company; treasurer of Consumer's Cotton Oil Company; secretary of Fairbank Canning Company; and director of National Packing Company, the National Stockyards of St. Louis, and A.M. Rothschild and Company.[6]
In 1913, he was appointed the Commissioner General to Italy, where he helped the Italian government gain representation at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition.[5] On July 13, 1914, he was appointed the United States Minister to Sweden, a position he held until April 3, 1923.[7]
Personal life
Morris mausoleum at Rosehill CemeteryMorris's wife and two children in a 1911 portrait painting by Joaquin Sorolla.
In 1921, while sailing to New York, on the Scandinavian-American liner United States, Morris saved the life of 19-year-old Ellen Neilson, of Brooklyn, in mid-ocean, when she was nearly washed overboard.[9]
Morris died in Chicago on January 15, 1942. His will included $150,000 for the construction of a mausoleum at Rosehill Cemetery, where he was interred.[10]
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