Your personal information is secure.
Carl Lindner, Jr.
Born: Apr 22, 1919 | Died: Oct 17, 1919
Search Amazon for Carl Lindner, Jr.
Funeral Arrangements Carl H. Lindner, Jr.
Funeral Parade forms 9:00 a.m., Friday, October 20, 2011
Great American Ball Park (2nd and Pete Rose Way)
Arrangements by
Thomas Justin Memorial Funeral Home
THOMAS JUSTIN MEMORIAL WEBSITE
CARL HENRY LINDNER, JR.
1919-2011
Washington Post Obituary Website
Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner Jr., who used his experience running the family dairy store to build a business empire whose reach included baseball, banks and bananas, has died. He was 92.
He died Monday night after being taken gravely ill to a hospital that morning, said a person close to the family who was not authorized to speak until a statement had been issued.
Lindner became controlling partner and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati Reds in a 1999 deal that ended Marge Schott's rocky 15-year reign as owner. In contrast to her grandstanding, Lindner stayed mostly in the background — save for a lasting memory in 2000 when he picked up Ken Griffey Jr. at the airport in his Rolls-Royce following the blockbuster trade.
Lindner was chairman of Cincinnati-based American Financial Group, a publicly traded financial holding company that had more than $17 billion in assets. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated Lindner's personal wealth at $1.75 billion, placing him among the 400 richest Americans.
Lindner ruled over a complex maze of corporations with nearly 70,000 employees worldwide.
American Financial Group owned, or held substantial investments in, Charter Co., marketer of fuel to electric utilities; Chiquita Brands International Inc., one of the world's largest food producers, and Great American Insurance Co.
His financial support for the University of Cincinnati, which named its business administration building after him, and various charities earned him a reputation as a philanthropist.
Tributes from current and former business school students poured onto Twitter early Tuesday. They thanked Lindner for championing the city and the university and sharing his wealth with them.
"He's got to be one of the most generous guys in Cincinnati," friend Richard Farmer, chairman of Cincinnati uniform maker Cintas Corp., said in 1993. "I don't know of any positive thing that's happened in Cincinnati that Carl has not been a part of."
In the business world, some critics considered him a ruthless takeover artist. He made millions in the 1970s and 1980s by investing, then retreating, from companies.
An alleged attempt by Lindner to take over Gannett Co. prompted former chairman Al Neuharth to call him a "shark in sheep's clothing."
Lindner made a name for himself by becoming one of Michael Milken's earliest and most prominent junk-bond players. But he also showed his investment smarts by predicting a decline in the junk-bond market in the late 1980s.
"Of course, Carl was always a couple years ahead of the pack," said James Dahl, a former bond seller for Milken.
Lindner had a reputation for working long hours in pursuit of the next great deal.
"I'm working over 80 hours a week and have to keep on track," he once told a reporter in explaining why he usually refused interview requests. Even in his later years, he showed no signs of slowing down.
He was publicity-shy, yet he held a fundraiser for presidential candidate George H.W. Bush at his home in 1988. He also played host to Bush and Francois Mitterrand, at the time the president of France, at his vacation home in Ocean Reef, Fla., later that month.
Lindner paid his staff handsomely and threw lavish annual parties for them. At his 70th birthday party, Frank Sinatra entertained.
Lindner's fortunes began to slide in the late 1980s with the acquisition of Taft Broadcasting, a Cincinnati television and radio company.
The $1.5 billion takeover in 1987 left the new company, Great American Communications, mired in debt. The company was forced to sell several key assets in a short time, including cartoon creator Hanna-Barbera Productions.
In 1992, Lindner suffered losses of $560 million at Great American Communications and $284 million at Chiquita, leading to a $77 million loss at American Financial. In 1993, Lindner filed for "prepackaged" bankruptcy to restructure debts of Great American Communications.
Carl Henry Lindner Jr. was born in Dayton in 1919 but spent much of his youth in Norwood, a blue-collar suburb of Cincinnati. As he made his wealth, he moved to Indian Hill, where most of Cincinnati's rich and famous live.
Lindner, along with brothers Robert and Richard and sister Dorothy, helped his parents in a succession of dairy businesses, first in Dayton, and then in Cincinnati. He never finished high school because he was so busy.
In 1940, Lindner's father opened one of the nation's first cash-and-carry milk and dairy stores, in Norwood. That launched what became the United Dairy Farmers convenience store chain.
During World War II, with his father's health failing and his brothers being called into military service, Lindner began to direct UDF. By the mid-1960s, when Lindner left UDF to Robert's direction, the chain had more than 100 stores. That number has since more than doubled.
Lindner founded the cornerstone of his financial empire, American Financial Corp. (later American Financial Group), in 1959. From 1961 until the company went private in 1980, American Financial's portfolio made more than 60 times its original investment as Lindner diversified into banks, insurance and assorted industries.
Lindner had three sons with his second wife, Edyth Bailey: Carl H. Lindner III, 58, president of Great American Insurance Co.; S. Craig Lindner, 56, president of American Annuity Group and senior executive vice president of American Money Management; and Keith Lindner, 52, a former official at Chiquita.
Business Courier Obituary
Cincinnati.com Obituary
Wikipedia
April 22, 1919 - Carl Henry Lindner, Jr is born in Dayton, OH
1940 - Lindner’s family launches what is now United Dairy Farmers from a location on Montgomery Road in Norwood. First-day sales were $8.28
1951 - Lindner marries the former Edyth Bailey
1959 - American Financial Corp is founded
1981- American Financial goes private meaning it doesn’t sell public stock and most financial records are private.
1980s - Lindner moves Chiquita Brands International Inc t Cincinnati after gaining conrol
1995 - A New publicly traded American Financial group Inc emerges
1999 - Lindner leads a group that buys a controlling stake in the reds from Marge Schott
2000 - The Reds trade for Ken Griffey Jr. Lindner picks Griffey up at Lunken Airport and drives him to Cinergy Field.
2002 - Chiquita emerges fro Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Lindner soon loses his controlling stake
2004 - Two of his sons, Carl Lindner III and Craig Lindner are named co-CEOs of American financial. Carl Lindner Jr remains chairman. The Lindner family reaps nearly $1 billion in stock with the sale of Provident Financial Group Inc to Cleveland-bases National City Corp.
2005 - Lindner sells his controlling stake in the Reds to a group lead b Bob Castellini.
2011 - American Financial moves into new Great American Tower at Queen City Square. Lindner’s office remains at Fourth and Vine Streets.
FUNERAL PARADE
Start Time: 9:00 am Friday, October 21, Great American Ball Park (2nd and Pete Rose Way)
Arrangements by
Thomas Justin Memorial Funeral Home
THOMAS JUSTIN MEMORIAL WEBSITE
CINCINNATI.COM FUNERAL PARADE ARTICLE
CARL H. LINDNER, JR.
Carl Lindner's life will be celebrated Friday with a parade stretching from Great American Ball Park downtown to a finale near one his favorite restaurants, Trio in Kenwood.
The parade carrying Lindner's body will start at 9 a.m. and be completed about 10:30 a.m., American Financial Group Inc. said tonight.
Drop down ramp to Pete Rose Way to Broadway
Left on Broadway
9:02 am Left on 4th Street – passing Great American Tower
9:04 am Continue on 4th Street – passing the Dixie Terminal and 1 E. 4th Street
Right on Vine Street
9:06 am Right on 5th Street – passing Fountain Square
9:07am Continue on 5th Street – passing the Taft Theater
Left on Broadway
Left on 6th Street
9:10 am Continue on 6th Street – passing the Cincinnatian Hotel
Right on Elm Street
Right on 7th Street
Left on Vine Street
9:15 am Left on 9th Street - passing Otto Armleder School
9:16 am Right on Elm Street – passing Music Hall
Left on 14th Street
Left on Central Parkway
9:20 am Right on Ezzard Charles Drive – passing Cincinnati Police Memorial
Right on Linn Street
9:22 am Left into Carl H. Lindner YMCA
Left on Linn
9:24 am Right on Liberty – passing Lord’s Gym
9:25 am Continue on Liberty – passing St. Francis Seraph School
Left on Sycamore Street
9:30 am Left on Auburn Avenue – thru Christ Hospital
Left on Taft / Calhoun Street
Right on Clifton Avenue
9:45 am Right on Martin Luther King Drive – looping onto campus passing UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business
Right on Martin Luther King Drive
9:50 am Left on Reading Road – Passing Temple Bible College
Left on Hickman
Left on Harvey
Right on Martin Luther King
9:55 am Right on Burnett Avenue – passing Shriners Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center
Turn right on Forrest Avenue
Left on Reading Road
10:02 am Turn right on Dana Avenue – passing Xavier University
10:08 am Turn left on Montgomery Road – passing 1st Lindner IceCream Shop, UDF Main office
10:10 am Left on Hopkins – passing Carl and Edyth Lindner Children’s Learning Center
Right on Allison
Right on Wanda
10:13 am Left on Montgomery Road – passing Norwood Administrative Buildings and 10:20am Olivet Baptist Church
Left on Plainfield Road
10:21 am Right on South Avenue – passing 1st house growing up
10:21 am Right on Silverton Avenue – passing 2nd house growing up
10:24 am Left on Montgomery Road – passing Old Kenwood Mall
10:27 am Left on Kenwood Road – passing Trio Restaurant
10:30 Parade Concludes
Thomas Justin Memorial Funeral Home serving the Carl H. Lindner Jr family.
Thomas Justin Memorial
7500 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45236
Telephone 513.791.5353
Thomas Justin Website
Write your comment
Contact Us
Phone