FREDERICK From Factory Furnace to Boardroom


BRANT RENTSCHLER (1887-1956)


Fred would rather finger machines than collateral, and consider a grimy factory a more impressive spectacle than a bank lobby with a bunch of Sam-Brownbelt guards. He wouldn’t trade the job of president of United Aircraft and Transport for that of his brother as president of the National City Bank.


Theodore M. Knapper, Wall Street Journal Hamilton Evening Journal September 20, 1930


I


n 1928 the largest aircraft company in the world was organized by Frederick Brant Rentschler, combining Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (engines), Boeing, Vought, Stearman and Sikorsky (aircraft), with Hamilton and Standard (propellers) to form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UAT). When governmental regulation broke up UAT (in 1934) Rentschler became President of its offspring, United Aircraft. His management style at United reflected Rentschler’s moral character and physical strength which was obvious in his earliest job at his father’s foundry in Hamilton, Ohio. Rentschler’s work ethic followed family tradition from the furnaces to the boardroom. Striving to do the best at whatever was asked of him, Rentschler also had the rare characteristics of a natural leader.


THE PUDDLER Rentschler was one of seven children born to German immigrants who made Hamilton, Ohio their home in 1873. Rentschler’s father, George, founded Hooven, Owens & Rentschler Company (H.O.R.), one of the largest machine tool operations in the United States. After graduating from


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