Daniel ludwig art
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“Mr. Ludwig wants to know what the hell is holding you up.”
Daniel Keith Ludwig (pronounced LUDD-wig) was an extremely secretive American shipping magnate and philanthropist who built one of the largest shipping empires in the 20th century.
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Daniel was born on June 24, 1897 in South Haven, Michigan to German immigrants. His father was a captain of a lake steamboat and later became a small real estate developer.
His early exposure to the shipping industry through his father’s work likely influenced Ludwig’s own career trajectory: four uncles were also captains of vessels traveling across the Great Lakes, and he was born on the shore of Lake Michigan near the site of a local landmark, Ludwig’s Pier, which had been built by his grandfather.
As a 9-year-old boy, Daniel started earning money by selling popcorn and shining shoes: he then decided to invest USD 75 that he had saved to buy a sunken small boat, which he repaired and rented out for p
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FreightWaves Classics is sponsored by Old Dominion Freight Line – Helping the World Keep Promises®. Learn more here.
While Malcom McLean, founder of Sea-Land, is regarded as the father of the container ship, Daniel Keith Ludwig is recognized as the father of the supertanker.
Ludwig was born on June 24, 1897, in South Haven, Michigan, to a family involved in Great Lakes shipping. He quit school in the eighth grade and split his time between Michigan and Port Arthur, Texas, living with his grandfather.
In his youth, Ludwig raised a sunken boat, which he later sold. He also held numerous maritime-oriented jobs, including ship chandler, machinist, line handler and engineer. By age 20, he was operating a tug and barge in New York Harbor.
Anticipating increased demand for shipping in the 1920s, Ludwig purchased an 1888-built, 4,350-deadweight-ton tanker for a charter to Standard Oil. In the 1930s, he founded National Bulk Carriers and had a fleet of secondhand tankers that he had upgraded.
His philosophy on commercial ocean shipping was to acquire the largest ships available
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The making of a magnate
An excerpt from
A Vision Realized: The story of Ludwig Cancer Research
You probably know Ludwig Cancer Research is named after a billionaire. Many of you might even recall that the billionaire in question, Daniel Keith Ludwig, made his fortune in shipping and, perhaps, that he is credited with inventing the modern supertanker. But we suspect very few, even in the extended Ludwig Cancer Research community, know much more than that about the man, such as where he came from, what he was said to be like or how he built the sprawling conglomerate that made him one of the richest men in the world. This is not your fault. Ludwig cherished his privacy and worked hard to protect it—even from the prying gaze of posterity.
If you’re curious to learn more about the man, read on. The article that follows is carved out of a book on the history of Ludwig Cancer Research prepared by the Communications department. That history owes its creation to chairman-emeritus of the Ludwig Institute’s Board of Directors John Notter, who suggested that somebody write the st
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