Henry J. Kaiser

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Henry J. Kaiser perches above Hawaiʻi Kai in April 1963, his suburban development in Honolulu. Kaiser spent much of his later years developing the urban landscape of Oʻahu.

Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882—August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding.

[edit] Early life

Beginning as a cashier in a dry-goods shop in Utica, New York, Kaiser moved many times as he pursued the photographic and hardware businesses, finally settling in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1912 he began a road paving business in Spokane and Skagit Washington and Vancouver British Columbia. The Henry J. Kaiser Company, Ltd. was established in Vancouver, B.C., in 1914. Early successes included one of international scope, building the first concrete paved roadways in Cuba in 1915. In 1921 Kaiser won his first California paving contract and established headquarters in Oakland. He then profited by building the expanding public road network. Through an unusual management structure stressing good pay for workers, Kaiser was able to bring the road paving contract in under budget and earlier than deadline. This led to more government roadbuilding and other infrastructure contracts such as Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) on the Colorado River, the building of the Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams, natural gas pipelines in the Southwest, Mississippi River levees, and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge underwater foundations.

[edit] World War II

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He became most famous for the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California during World War II, adopting production techniques that generated one cargo ship every 30 days. He became world renown when his teams built a ship in 4 days. Other Kaiser Shipyards were located in Ryan Point (Vancouver) on the Columbia River in Washington state and in Portland, Oregon. The concepts he developed for the mass production of commercial and military ships are still in use today. It was at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards where he pioneered the idea for which he is most well-known today, the Kaiser Permanente HMO.

[edit] Post-World War II

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As a real estate magnate, Kaiser was the founder of the Honolulu suburban community of Hawaiʻi Kai in Hawaiʻi (where there is a public high school named in his honor) and Panorama City near Los Angeles.

The Kaiser Center in downtown Oakland was the headquarters of Kaiser Industries.

In 1945, Kaiser partnered with veteran automobile executive Joseph Frazer to establish a new automobile company from the remnants of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president. It would use a surplus Ford Motor Company defense plant at Willow Run, Michigan originally built for World War II aircraft production by Ford. Kaiser Motors produced cars under the Kaiser and Frazer names until 1955, when it abandoned the U.S. market and moved production to plants in Brazil and Argentina. In the late 1960s, these South American operations were sold to a Ford-Renault combine. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep line of utility vehicles, changing its name to Willys Motors. In 1963, the name was changed again to Kaiser-Jeep, which was ultimately sold to American Motors Corporation in 1970, when Kaiser decided to leave the auto business. As part of the transaction, Kaiser acquired a 22% interest in AMC, which was later divested. Kaiser entered the aluminium industry in 1946 with Kaiser Aluminum. In 1948, Kaiser established the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (also known as Kaiser Family Foundation), a U.S.-based, non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation, not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries, is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. Henry Kaiser spent much of his later years in Honolulu and developed an obsession with perfecting its urban landscape. He founded the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel, now one of the most famous Hilton resorts in the world. Kaiser also constructed one of the first commercially practical geodesic domes at this resort. Elsewhere, Kaiser built civic centers, roads, schools. He is best known for constructing the Hoover Dam and Grand Coulee Dam. Kaiser is also noted for advancing medicine with the development and construction of several hospitals, medical centers and medical schools. His mining town of Eagle Mountain, California, part of the West Coast's first integrated mining/processing operation linked by rail to his mill in Fontana, California, was the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente, the first health maintenance organization. His grandson, Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr. was the former President Kaiser Steel. From 1981–1984, he also owned the Denver Broncos NFL franchise. Another grandson, also named Henry Kaiser, is a widely known experimental guitarist. Kaiser is buried in Koss's Back Yard in Oakland, California.

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Detailed biography