William Procter

Birth Name:
William Procter
Birth Date:
December 7, 1801
Birth Place:
Herefordshire, England
Death Date:
April 4, 1884
Place of Death:
297 Race Street, Cincinnati, Ohio
Age:
82
Cause of Death:
General Debility
Cemetery Name:
Spring Grove Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Business and Finance
William Procter was an English-born American industrialist and candlemaker who was the co-founder of Procter & Gamble Company in 1837, along with James Gamble. William Procter came to New York City in 1830 after his London woolens shop was destroyed by fire and burglary. He and his wife, Martha, soon decided to travel west to the country’s new frontier but were forced to stop in Cincinnati when Martha became ill and ultimately died of cholera. Procter stayed in Cincinnati making a living as a candlemaker and remarried Olivia Norris. Olivia’s sister was married to James Gamble, a soapmaker. At the suggestion of their father-in-law, the two men went into business together. In 1837, Procter & Gamble (P&G) was born as a storefront business in Cincinnati.

Fun Facts

P&G pioneered several firsts:

  • Instituted a profit-sharing program that gave employees an ownership stake in the company. (1887)
  • Became the first company to conduct data-based market research. (1924)
  • Created Crest toothpaste, a breakthrough in the use of fluoride to protect against tooth decay, the second most prevalent disease at the time. (1955)

Today, P&G serves nearly five billion of the world’s seven billion people.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Spring Grove Cemetery

4521 Spring Grove Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio

Grave Location:

Section 47, Lot 76, Grave 8

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery through the main entrance drive straight ahead under the trestle bridge and drive straight, veering slightly to the right after the first couple of sections. Bordered by Sections 38, 46 and 55, look for the Procter monument right on the road in Section 47, directly across from Section 46.

Grave Location GPS

39.1712141, -84.5220897

Photos:

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Read More About William Procter:

Videos Featuring William Procter:
Business Legends: Procter & Gamble
Corporate History Video - P&G
How P&G has been scoring number ones for 180 years

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James Gamble

popular name: James Gamble

date_of_death: April 29, 1891

age: 88

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: In 1819, the George Gamble family set sail for American to seek their fortune in an area of Illinois that was being promoted. Because of illness of a son, they stopped and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. A son, James Gamble, at 18 apprenticed in the soap business and eventually formed his own company. After marrying Ann Norris, he merged his company with that of William Proctor who married Ann’s sister. And in 1837 that was the start of the Proctor and Gamble Company. In 1858–1859, sales reached $1 million. By that point, about 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble's products. In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive soap that floated in water. The company called the soap Ivory. Beginning in the 1880s, P&G advertised its wares in full-page advertisements in many general-interest magazines; by 1921, it had become a major international corporation with a diversified line of soaps, toiletries, and food products; in that year, its annual advertising budget reached $1 million. In the 1920s, P&G advertised its products on the new medium of radio, and from 1932 forward was one of the biggest sponsors of daytime serials, which soon acquired the nickname of soap operas. In the television era, P&G sponsored and produced some twenty soap operas across six decades before the last of its shows ended in 2010. Today Procter and Gamble employees over 101,000 employees with total sales exceeding $76 billion.

Hugh Hefner

popular name: Hugh Hefner

date_of_death: September 27, 2017

age: 91

cause_of_death: Sepsis and cardiac arrest caused by an E. coli infection

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Hugh Hefner transformed the adult entertainment industry with his groundbreaking publication Playboy. From the first issue featuring Marilyn Monroe in December 1953, Playboy expanded into a multimillion-dollar enterprise mirroring the often controversial, if not outright sleazy, sensibilities of its founder. By the early 1960s, it was a huge success, soon expanding to open its namesake clubs all over the world. It also moved into TV with Playboy After Dark. By the 1970s, Hefner set himself up at the Playboy Mansion West in California, remaining editor-in-chief of the magazine he founded while daughter Christie ran the day to day operations. Once worth in excess of $200 million, upon his death the Playboy empire was worth $55 million while the magazine folded in 2020.

J. P. Morgan

popular name: J. P. Morgan

date_of_death: March 31, 1913 (aged 75)

age: 75

cause_of_death: Acute attack of gastro enteritis

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: J.P. Morgan was a titan of American business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries his position and connections put him squarely in the middle of the development of American industry. Of his generation John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was the most powerful banker, industrialist and art collector in America. Born in Connecticut, he was the third generation of a banking dynasty that he would go on to dwarf with his financial acumen and bullish instinct. His father Junius Spencer Morgan was a partner in a London-based merchant bank. Another ancestor, James Pierpont, founded Yale University. At the height of his powers in the 1890s, Morgan was said to control one sixth of America’s railway lines. In 1895 he and a consortium of bankers rescued America’s Gold Standard loaning the federal government more than $60 million. In addition to the bank that bore his name, Morgan invested in and subsequently bought the Carnegie Steel Company, Edison General Electric and the United States Steel Corporation. He also acquired the New York Times newspaper and founded the Metropolitan Club in New York when the Union Club blackballed his friend John King. Deeply offended, he instructed the architects ‘build me a club fit for gentlemen. Forget the expense’. However, Morgan was not content just in the banking world – he had many interests elsewhere. Adolph Ochs, publisher of the Chattanooga Times, secured a loan with J.P. Morgan’s help and managed to save the New York Times. His personal and business interests extended to steel and railroads. He purchased U.S. Steel from Andrew Carnegie and merged it with a few other firms to create United States Steel in 1901. Over 100 years later that firm is still going strong.

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