John Bartlett Pierce (June 2, 1844 – June 23, 1917) was an American industrialist who founded the American Radiator Company, a forerunner of American Standard.
Pierce was born June 2, 1844, in Embden, Maine. His first business enterprise was a store in Buffalo, New York. Recognizing the potential of steam/boiler heat in the northern United States, he established the Pierce Steam Heating Company, which manufactured and sold steel boilers and cast iron radiators. In 1892 he merged independent manufacturers to form the American Radiator Company, of which he was vice president. In 1929 the company merged with the Standard Sanitary Company to become American Standard, Inc.
Pierce was married twice, but died childless on June 23, 1917. His will left company stock, valued at more than $1 million, to more than 400 friends and employees, and designated additional funds to endow a private foundation. The John B. Pierce Foundation was established in 1924 to promote research, educational, technical or scientific work in the general field of heating, ventilation and sanitation.
Famous quotes containing the words john b, john and/or pierce:
“Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“Of all the men who were said to be my contemporaries, it seemed to me that John Brown was the only one who had not died.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“But wise men pierce this rotten diction and fasten words again to visible things; so that picturesque language is at once a commanding certificate that he who employs it, is a man in alliance with truth and God.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)