James Cash Penney Jr. American entrepreneur Date of Birth: 16.09.1875 Country: USA

Biography of James Cash Penney

James Cash Penney was an American entrepreneur who founded the store 'J.C. Penney' in 1902, which remains a successful chain in the United States to this day. He was born on September 16, 1875, on a farm in Hamilton, Missouri, to James Cash Penney Sr. and Mary Frances Penney. He was the seventh of twelve children, with only six of them surviving into adulthood.

Penney's father was a farmer and Baptist preacher who instilled strict discipline in his children. As a teenager, Penney had to pay for his own clothes. After finishing school, Penney planned to attend college and become a lawyer. However, his father's death forced him to change his plans and he started working in a store to support his family.

Penney was married three times. His first wife died of pneumonia, and his second wife passed away from an illness in 1924. He then married Caroline Marie Autenrieth, with whom he lived for 45 years until his death. He had five children: Roswell and James III from his first marriage, Kimball from his second marriage, and two daughters, Mary Frances and Carol, from his third marriage.

In 1898, health issues prompted Penney, who was then in his early twenties, to move to Longmont, Colorado, where he became an employee of the small chain of stores called 'Golden Rule.' In 1902, the owners of 'Golden Rule' were impressed by Penney's dedication and commercial talent and offered him a partnership in a new store they planned to open. Penney invested $2,000 in the store and moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming. He participated in the opening of two more new stores, and when the owners of 'Golden Rule' dissolved their partnership in 1907, he acquired full ownership of all three stores. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores. In 1913, he moved the company's headquarters to a new building in downtown Salt Lake City and renamed it 'J.C. Penney Company.' In the 1920s, he began expanding the store network east of the Mississippi, and by the 1920s, J.C. Penney stores were opening all over the country, with the majority located in the West. By 1924, the annual profit of 'J.C. Penney Company' exceeded one million dollars, and by 1929, the number of stores reached almost 1,500.

With his high income, Penney generously donated to charity in the 1920s, acquired expensive real estate, and launched new projects. However, the Great Depression halted these ventures. Penney spent almost all of his personal capital to help the company pay its employees' wages. Unfortunately, the financial crash took a toll on his health, but the Penney retail empire survived. Even in his old age, though he had relinquished daily control of the company, Penney remained actively involved in its management. In 1940, during a visit to a store in Des Moines, Iowa, he personally taught a young intern named Sam Walton, the future founder of the world's largest retail chain, 'Wal-Mart,' how to wrap a package with minimal tape. Penney remained chairman of the board until 1946 and then served as honorary chairman until his death in 1971.

For most of his adult life, Penney was a member of the Masonic Lodge. He participated in the establishment of the University of Miami, where he purchased a mansion in 1921, and from 1926 to 1930, he served on the board of trustees. During the Great Depression, Penney, along with Thomas J. Watson, the president and founder of IBM, radio and television host Arthur Godfrey, and Reverend and motivational speaker Norman Vincent Peale, founded '40Plus,' an organization that helped unemployed managers and executives. In 1954, he established the charitable foundation 'James C. Penney Foundation.' The J.C. Penney Conference Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis was named in his honor, as both Penney and his company played an integral role in its construction.