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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Anthony, Graham Hudson

by D. A. Yanchisin, 1979

2 Apr. 1892–25 Dec. 1967

Graham Hudson Anthony, industrialist, was born in Shelby, where his father, J. A. Anthony, was a lawyer. He received a B.E. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State College in 1914 and an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree 3 Oct. 1942, for his contributions to the university. A big man, "Aus" played football, was active in campus affairs, and was popular with his classmates. After his graduation from college, he was employed by various manufacturing firms in New England; he finally settled in West Hartford, Conn., where he accomplished his most outstanding work in the computer industry. He was president and board chairman of the Veeder-Root Company (now Veeder Industries), a multimillion dollar firm manufacturing computer and machine parts. He was on the boards of ten other banking, insurance, and industrial firms and held the presidency of Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's, Inc.) from 1944 to 1949. He also served on the National War Labor Board during World War II and was a member of the board of the National Association of Manufacturers from 1936 to 1943.

His first wife, Elizabeth Johnson Anthony, daughter of a former mayor of Raleigh, James Iredell Johnson, died in 1953, leaving a son, James I. In 1954 he married Mrs. Mary Alice Stevens Kaiser, who had two sons from her previous marriage. Graham H. Anthony died in Lancaster, Pa., while visiting his son for Christmas. He was outlived by two brothers, Oliver S. Anthony of Shelby and John A. Anthony of Norfolk, Va., and three sisters, Margaret Meagher, Mary Woodson, and Elizabeth Hauser of Shelby. His body was returned to West Hartford for funeral services and burial in the city's Fairview Cemetery.

References:

New York Times, 29 Dec. 1967 (obit.). North Carolina State College Agromeck (1914).

Raleigh News and Observer, 4 July 1943, 27 Dec. 1967 (obit.).

Student Records, University of North Carolina Archives (Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

Additional Resources:

Oliver Max Gardner Papers (#3613) 1892-1966 (collection no. 03613). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/g/Gardner,Oliver_Max.html (accessed January 25, 2013).

James Lee Love Papers, 1880-1954 (collection no. 04139). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/l/Love,James_Lee.html (accessed January 25, 2013).

Subjects: 
Biographies
Business leaders
Authors: 
Yanchisin, D. A.
From: 
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 1979 | Yanchisin, D. A.