Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney - Business Career

Business Career

Most often referred to as C.V. Whitney, he was also known widely by the nickname "Sonny." After graduating from Yale University in 1922, he went to work at a Nevada mine owned by his father. His grandfather William C. Whitney was a co-founder and director of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York and in 1926 C.V. Whitney was appointed a director, serving on the bank's board until 1940. In 1927, he joined with William A. Rockefeller and other investors to back Juan Trippe in establishing the Aviation Corporation of America which a year later would become Pan American World Airways.

In 1931, Whitney founded the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Limited in Canada. The company became a major zinc mining operation and Whitney served as chairman of the board until 1964.

C.V. Whitney became involved in the motion picture industry, notably with his cousin Jock Whitney as a major shareholder backing the Technicolor Corporation. The two were also financiers for the 1939 film classic Gone with the Wind. Seventeen years later, C.V. Whitney served as a producer through his own "C.V. Whitney Pictures." His company made three films, the first being the acclaimed 1956 production, The Searchers, directed by John Ford. Second was The Missouri Traveler in 1958 with Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin and the third The Young Land in 1959 with Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper.

Whitney was a major financial partner in the development of Marine Studios, designed as an underwater motion picture studio located on the ocean south of St. Augustine, Florida. The Studios opened on June 23, 1938 with an estimated 30,000 visitors and eventually evolved into a major marine attraction. It was billed as "the world's original marine attraction". Whitney sold the attraction and its amenities to a group of St. Augustine businessmen in 1984. The oceanariums, restaurant, motel and other facilities were demolished in 2008. Whitney's legacy continues at the Whitney Laboratory.