Biography
He was born on May 27, 1880 at Winterthur, Delaware. He was the only son of Henry Algernon du Pont and Mary Pauline Foster to live to maturity.
He studied horticulture at the Bussey Institution at Harvard University, graduating in 1903.
In 1916, he married Ruth Wales (1889–1967). They had two children, Pauline Louise du Pont (1918–2007) and Ruth Ellen du Pont (born 1922).
Beginning in the 1920s, Du Pont began breeding Holstein-Freisian cattle, originally bred in northern Netherlands and Germany. He became recognized as one of the premier breeders in the United States. The Winterthur herd of dairy cattle was well known in farming and agricultural circles from the 1920s until Du Pont's death in 1969.
A collector of Americana, over decades Henry Francis Du Pont expanded his family estate from the 30-room house he inherited to a 175-room mansion. In addition, he supervised the design and development of gardens near the house, as well as landscaping throughout the large estate grounds. In 1951 he established it as the Winterthur Museum & Country Estate. The museum is generally recognized as the premier collection of American Decorative Arts in the world; it includes many period rooms, some rescued from houses before their demolition.
Du Pont was asked by Jacqueline Kennedy to help oversee the renovation of the White House in 1961-1963. He used his contacts and expertise to acquire donations of fine art and high-quality furniture to the effort so that it would reflect the best in American design. He sometimes clashed with Kennedy's interior designer Stéphane Boudin.
He died on April 11, 1969. He was buried in Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery.
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