Wall Street and Later Years
In the 1920s, Durant became a major "player" on Wall Street and on Black Tuesday joined with members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy large quantities of stocks, against the advice of friends, in order to demonstrate to the public their confidence in the stock market. His effort proved costly and failed to stop the market slide. By 1936, the 75-year-old Durant was bankrupt.
After the fall of Durant Motors, Durant and his second wife lived on a small pension provided by Alfred P. Sloan on behalf of General Motors. He suffered a stroke in 1942, which left him "a semi-invalid", and managed a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan until his death in 1947. He was buried in a private mausoleum at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Durant was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996.
Durant Park in Lansing, Michigan is named after him.
Read more about this topic: William C. Durant
Famous quotes containing the words wall street, wall, street and/or years:
“This is Wall Street, and today is important. Because tomorrow, July 4th, I intended to make my first million dollars—an exciting day in a man’s life. The enterprise was slightly illegal.”
—Abraham Polonsky (b. 1910)
“...there is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn. I’m not certain what the difference is, but I do know that if you butt your head against a stone wall long enough, at some point you realize the wall is stone and that your head is flesh and blood.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“I mount the steps and ring the bell, turning
Wearily, as one would turn to nod good-bye to Rochefoucauld,
If the street were time and he at the end of the street,
And I say, “Cousin Harriet, here is the Boston Evening Transcript.””
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Porter: O.K., O.K., you win. I’ll marry you. How ‘bout it?
Lora May: Thanks. For nuthin’.
Porter: Now what kind of an answer is that?
Lora May: I don’t know. I just felt like it, that’s all.
Porter: We’ll do all right, kid. We’re startin’ out where it takes most marriages years to get.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)