1. Sam Zemurray founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company and later became president of the United Fruit Company, the world's most influential fruit company at the time.
35 Facts About Sam Zemurray
1. 2.
Sam Zemurray was born to a poor Jewish family in Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russian Empire.
3.
Sam Zemurray's grandfather, Mendel Hirsh of Shargorod, was a Klezmer musician and bandleader.
4.
Sam Zemurray worked many odd jobs during his youth, being a carpenter's assistant, delivery boy, traveling merchant, and housecleaner.
5.
Sam Zemurray encountered bananas for the first time in Selma in 1893.
6.
Sam Zemurray went to the port of Mobile, Alabama, in 1895 to enter the banana trade.
7.
In Mobile, Sam Zemurray specialized in buying cheap bananas in danger of being overripe and quickly transporting and selling them in the surrounding region by rail.
8.
Sam Zemurray's success earned him the nickname "Sam the Banana Man".
9.
In 1903, Sam Zemurray signed a contract with United Fruit, the dominant company in the banana trade.
10.
In 1905, Sam Zemurray moved to New Orleans and the company acquired Thatcher Brothers Steamship Company.
11.
In 1910, Sam Zemurray bought 5,000 acres of land along the Cuyamel River in Honduras, near the town of Omoa.
12.
Sam Zemurray then continued to borrow money and buy more lowland forest land in Honduras, well-suited for growing bananas.
13.
Sam Zemurray developed this land by adding plantations, railroads, and bridges.
14.
The work was done largely by Jamaican workers, but Sam Zemurray liked to participate in the physical labor of the fields.
15.
At this point, Hubbard believed that Cuyamel Fruit Company's debts had grown too large, and Sam Zemurray bought his share of the business.
16.
Sam Zemurray had increased the efficiency of his business through bribery and special deals with the Honduran government.
17.
Sam Zemurray feared that the enforcement of these taxes would ruin his business, and he lobbied Knox to make the deal more favorable to him.
18.
Knox made no concessions for Sam Zemurray, and told him not to meddle in Honduran affairs.
19.
In spite of this instruction, Sam Zemurray devised a plan to overthrow Honduran president Miguel Davila in order to prevent the deal.
20.
Sam Zemurray recruited mercenary Lee Christmas, who in turn recruited a force of about 100 other mercenaries in New Orleans, including famed Jewish soldier Sam Dreben.
21.
Sam Zemurray then rewarded Zemurray with very favorable tax and land concessions for Cuyamel Fruit Company.
22.
In 1913, Sam Zemurray bought back the portion of his company owned by United Fruit, a transaction that was made possible by increasing anti-trust pressure on United Fruit from the United States government.
23.
In 1929, the United States Department of State facilitated discussions between Sam Zemurray and United Fruit to merge their companies and end the conflict, which was endangering American interests abroad.
24.
Sam Zemurray acquired in 1928 Houltonwood, a 25,000-acre plantation located near Hammond, Louisiana, which became a favorite retreat of Zemurray for the rest of his life.
25.
Sam Zemurray reorganized the company, decentralized decision-making and made the company profitable once more.
26.
Sam Zemurray then visited individual United Fruit shareholders and collected their proxies, which would enable him to gain control of the company.
27.
Now as president of United Fruit Company, Sam Zemurray succeeded in improving business.
28.
Sam Zemurray considered his hands-on approach of visiting banana plantations to be the key to his success.
29.
Sam Zemurray gained a detailed understanding of operations, resulting in mass terminations of weak employees, improved efficiency in the use of ships, and new financial approaches.
30.
Partially as a result of banana diseases Sigatoka and Panama disease, Sam Zemurray presided over very large acquisitions of land in Central America.
31.
Sam Zemurray authorized Edward Bernays to launch a propaganda campaign against Col.
32.
Sam Zemurray retired as president of United Fruit in late 1951.
33.
Sam Zemurray went missing in action as a pilot in World War II, leaving a widow and two children.
34.
Sam Zemurray became a philanthropic and gave thousands of dollars to Tulane University, Radcliffe College, The Nation magazine, and to clinics and hospitals in New Orleans.
35.
Sam Zemurray was a member of Temple Sinai in New Orleans.