A recent biography of Andrew Mellon pointed out that as the fourth son of a very successful father he was given the Mellon Bank to run, which he ran essentially as a venture capital fund.
His hits included Alcoa Aluminum, which headquartered in Mellon’s Pittsburg. Wouldn’t we all like to have that kind of winner?
The book also reported that it was possible that Mellon missed a bet and refused funding to Henry Ford, who took his ideas to Detroit.
