Samuel Prescott Bush (October 4, 1863 – February 8, 1948) was an American steel industry executive and the patriarch of the Bush family. He was the father of U.S. senator Prescott Bush, the paternal grandfather of former U.S. president George H. W. Bush, and the patrilineal great-grandfather of former president George W. Bush and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

After graduating from the Stevens Institute of Technology, he established himself as one of the leading industrialists of his era.

Early life

Bush was born in Brick Church, Orange, New Jersey, to Harriet Eleanor Fay (1829–1924) and Reverend James Smith Bush (1825–1889), an Episcopal priest at Grace Church in Orange. His siblings were James Freeman Bush (1860–1913), Harold Montfort Bush (1871–1945), and Eleanor Bush Woods (1872–1957).

He grew up in New Jersey, San Francisco, and Staten Island, but spent the majority of his adult life in Columbus, Ohio. and cofounder of the Columbus Academy. Additionally, he was the co-founder of the Scioto Country Club, a golf club in Columbus, Ohio.

Political prominence

In the spring of 1918, banker Bernard Baruch was asked to reorganize the War Industries Board during World War I, and placed several prominent businessmen in key posts. Bush became chief of the Ordnance, Small Arms, and Ammunition Section, with national responsibility for government assistance to and relations with munitions companies.

Bush served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (as well as of the Huntington National Bank of Columbus). He was once recommended to serve on the board of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, but Hoover did not feel he was sufficiently known nationally.

  • Robert Sheldon Bush (1896–1900), who died in childhood.
  • Mary Eleanor Bush (1897–1992), who married Francis "Frank" House.
  • Margaret Livingston Bush (1899–1993), who married Stuart Holmes Clement (1895–1974) in 1919.
  • James Smith Bush (1901–1978), a director of the Export–Import Bank, and president of the Northwest International Bank.

His wife, Flora, died in 1920 at the age of 48 during a vacation in Rhode Island, when she was hit by a car. He later married Martha Bell Carter (1879–1950) of Milwaukee.

Bush died on February 8, 1948, aged 84, in Columbus. He is interred at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus.

References

  • Samuel Bush residence