Henry J. Kaiser
Encyclopedia
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding
. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ship
s during World War II
, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum
and Kaiser Steel
. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente
health care for his workers and their families. He led Kaiser-Frazer
followed by Kaiser Motors
, automobile companies known for the safety of their designs. Kaiser was involved in large construction projects such as civic centers and dams, and invested in real estate. With his acquired wealth, he initiated the Kaiser Family Foundation
, a charitable organization.
Kaiser was born on May 9, 1882 in Sprout Brook, New York
.
He worked as an apprentice photographer early in his life, and was running the company by the age of twenty. He used his earnings to move to Washington state where he started a construction company that fulfilled government contracts.
After moving to the West Coast
in 1906, he founded in 1914 a road-paving company, one of the first to use heavy construction machinery. His firm expanded significantly in 1927 when it received a $20-million contract to build roads in Cuba
. In 1931 his firm was one of the prime contractors in building the Hoover Dam
on the Colorado River
, and the Bonneville
and Grand Coulee Dams
on the Columbia River
.
He had never built a ship before, but he set up shipyards in Seattle and Tacoma where he began using mass-production techniques such as using welding
instead of rivets
.
, California
during World War II
, adopting production techniques that generated cargo ships on the average of one every 45 days. These ships became known as Liberty ships. He became world renowned when his teams built a ship in 4 days. The keel
for the 10,500 ton Robert E. Peary was laid on Sunday, November 8, 1942, and the ship was launched in California from the Richmond Shipyard #2 on Thursday, November 12, four days and 15½ hours later. The previous record had been 10 days for the Liberty ship Joseph M. Teal.
A visit to a Ford assembly plant by one of his associates led to the decision to use welding instead of riveting in the production of his ships. Welding was advantageous in that it took less physical strength and it was easier to teach thousands of employees, mostly unskilled laborers and many of them women. Kaiser also adopted the use of subassemblies in ship construction whereas before hundreds of laborers would have to crowd together to complete a ship. Though this practice had been tried on the east coast and in Britain, Kaiser was able to take full advantage of the process by constructing new shipyards with this in mind.
Other Kaiser Shipyards were located in Ryan Point (Vancouver) on the Columbia River in Washington state and on Swan Island in Portland
, Oregon
. A smaller vessel was turned out in 71 hours and 40 minutes from the Vancouver yard on November 16, 1942.
The concepts he developed for the mass production of commercial and military ships are still in use today. It was at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards where he financed the pioneering idea of Dr. Sydney Garfield, the Kaiser Permanente
HMO. The Kaiser hulls also became America's escort carriers, over one hundred small aircraft carriers which sailed into harm's way in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Wars.
One of the problems with the pioneering use of welded hulls, not known at that time, was the issue of 'brittle fracture.' This caused the loss of some liberty ships in cold seas as the welds would fail and the hulls of the ships would crack - sometimes completely in two. Constance Tipper
was one of the first people to discover why the liberty ships were breaking in two. Minor changes in design and more rigid welding control enforced in 1947 eliminated liberty ship losses until 1955.
Through his membership in a group called the Six Companies
, Kaiser also had a major role in the Joshua Hendy Iron Works
of Sunnyvale, California
which built the EC-2 triple expansion steam engines for the Liberty ships.
Kaiser and his associates organized the California Shipbuilding Corporation
.
The Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital for the Kaiser Shipyards was also financed by the U.S. Maritime Commission, and opened on August 10, 1942. Sponsored by Henry J. Kaiser's Permanente Foundation, it was run by Medical Director Sidney R. Garfield, M.D. The Field Hospital served as the mid-level component of a three-tier medical care system that also included six well-equipped First Aid Stations at the individual shipyards, and the main Permanente Hospital in Oakland, where the most critical cases were treated.
By August 1944, 92.2 percent of all Richmond shipyard employees had joined the plan, the first voluntary group plan in the country to feature group medical practice, prepayment and substantial medical facilities on such a large scale. After the war ended, the Health Plan was expanded to include workers' families. By 1990, Kaiser Permanente was still the country's largest nonprofit HMO.
In part due to wartime materials rationing, the Field Hospital is a single-story wood frame structure designed in a simple modernist mode. Originally intended for use primarily as an emergency facility, the Field Hospital opened with only 10 beds. Later additions increased its capacity to 160 beds by 1944. The Field Hospital operated as a Kaiser Permanente hospital until closing in 1995.
As a real estate magnate, Kaiser was the founder of the Honolulu
suburban community of Hawaii Kai
in Hawaii
(where there is a public high school
named in his honor) and Panorama City
near Los Angeles
.
In 1945, Kaiser partnered with veteran automobile executive Joseph Frazer to establish a new automobile
company from the remnants of Graham-Paige
, of which Frazer had been president. It would use a surplus Ford Motor Company
defense plant at Willow Run, Michigan
originally built for World War II aircraft production by Ford. Kaiser Motors
produced cars under the Kaiser and Frazer names until 1955, when it abandoned the U.S. market and moved production to plants in Brazil
and Argentina
. In the late 1960s, these South American operations were sold to a Ford-Renault
combine. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep
line of utility vehicles, changing its name to Willys Motors. In 1963, the name was changed again to Kaiser-Jeep, which was ultimately sold to American Motors Corporation in 1970. As part of the transaction, Kaiser acquired a 22% interest in AMC, which was later divested.
Kaiser founded Kaiser Aluminum
in 1946 with the lease and eventual purchase of three aluminum facilities from the United States Government. Over the ensuing decades, Kaiser Aluminum grew to become involved in virtually all aspects of the aluminum industry, including the mining and refining of bauxite into alumina, the production of primary aluminum from alumina, and the manufacture of fabricated and semi-fabricated aluminum products.
In 1948, Kaiser established the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (also known as Kaiser Family Foundation
), a U.S.-based, non-profit, private operating foundation
focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation, not associated with Kaiser Permanente
or Kaiser Industries, is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public.
Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union was founded in 1952 and served employees of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Group, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. In September of 2008, the The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) selected Alliant Credit Union, based in Chicago, Illinois, to purchase the assets of Kaiperm Federal Credit Union of Oakland, California. The purchase and assumption was completed on September 26, 2008.
Kaiser Federal Bank was originally founded in 1953 as a credit union to serve the employees of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in Los Angeles, California and converted to a federal mutual savings bank in 1999. Kaiser Federal Financial Group, Inc. is a Maryland corporation that owns all of the outstanding common stock of Kaiser Federal Bank. The stock of Kaiser Federal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the NASDAQ under the trading symbol "KFFG".
Henry Kaiser spent much of his later years in Honolulu
and developed an obsession with perfecting its urban landscape. He founded the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel, today known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village
. Kaiser also constructed one of the first commercially practical geodesic dome
s in the United States at this resort.
, Hawaii
. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland
, California
.
and Grand Coulee Dam
. Kaiser is also noted for advancing medicine with the development and construction of several hospitals, medical centers and medical schools. His mining town of Eagle Mountain, California
, part of the West Coast's first integrated mining/processing operation linked by rail to his mill in Fontana, California
, was the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente
, the first health maintenance organization
. Fontana is now home to another public high school named in his honor. His grandson, Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr.
, was the former President of Kaiser Steel
. From 1981–1984, he also owned the Denver Broncos
NFL
franchise. Another grandson, also named Henry Kaiser
, is a widely known experimental guitarist
.
In 1984, the Oakland Auditorium was renamed the Kaiser Convention Center
in honor of Kaiser after a renovation that year.
A class of 18 United States Navy
fleet replenishment oilers built in the 1980s and 1990s is named the Henry J. Kaiser class
. Its lead unit, USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO-187), the first U.S. Navy ship named for Kaiser, entered service with the Military Sealift Command
on December 19, 1986.
On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
announced that Kaiser would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame
inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento
, California
.
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum is an American aluminum producer. The company was founded in 1946 by American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Kaiser entered the aluminum business by leasing, then purchasing three government-owned aluminum facilities in Washington state. These were the primary reduction plants at...
and Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
health care for his workers and their families. He led Kaiser-Frazer
Kaiser-Frazer
The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president before the Second World War...
followed by Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operations to the Willys plant at Toledo, Ohio...
, automobile companies known for the safety of their designs. Kaiser was involved in large construction projects such as civic centers and dams, and invested in real estate. With his acquired wealth, he initiated the Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...
, a charitable organization.
Early life
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
After moving to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
in 1906, he founded in 1914 a road-paving company, one of the first to use heavy construction machinery. His firm expanded significantly in 1927 when it received a $20-million contract to build roads in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. In 1931 his firm was one of the prime contractors in building the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
on the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
, and the Bonneville
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
and Grand Coulee Dams
Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy...
on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
.
He had never built a ship before, but he set up shipyards in Seattle and Tacoma where he began using mass-production techniques such as using welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
instead of rivets
Rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
.
World War II
Henry Kaiser became most famous for the Kaiser Shipyard in RichmondRichmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, adopting production techniques that generated cargo ships on the average of one every 45 days. These ships became known as Liberty ships. He became world renowned when his teams built a ship in 4 days. The keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
for the 10,500 ton Robert E. Peary was laid on Sunday, November 8, 1942, and the ship was launched in California from the Richmond Shipyard #2 on Thursday, November 12, four days and 15½ hours later. The previous record had been 10 days for the Liberty ship Joseph M. Teal.
A visit to a Ford assembly plant by one of his associates led to the decision to use welding instead of riveting in the production of his ships. Welding was advantageous in that it took less physical strength and it was easier to teach thousands of employees, mostly unskilled laborers and many of them women. Kaiser also adopted the use of subassemblies in ship construction whereas before hundreds of laborers would have to crowd together to complete a ship. Though this practice had been tried on the east coast and in Britain, Kaiser was able to take full advantage of the process by constructing new shipyards with this in mind.
Other Kaiser Shipyards were located in Ryan Point (Vancouver) on the Columbia River in Washington state and on Swan Island in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. A smaller vessel was turned out in 71 hours and 40 minutes from the Vancouver yard on November 16, 1942.
The concepts he developed for the mass production of commercial and military ships are still in use today. It was at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards where he financed the pioneering idea of Dr. Sydney Garfield, the Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
HMO. The Kaiser hulls also became America's escort carriers, over one hundred small aircraft carriers which sailed into harm's way in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Wars.
One of the problems with the pioneering use of welded hulls, not known at that time, was the issue of 'brittle fracture.' This caused the loss of some liberty ships in cold seas as the welds would fail and the hulls of the ships would crack - sometimes completely in two. Constance Tipper
Constance Tipper
Constance Fligg Elam Tipper was a British metallurgist and crystallographer.Constance Tipper specialized in the investigation of metal strength and its effect on engineering problems. During the Second World War, she investigated the causes of brittle fracture in Liberty Ships...
was one of the first people to discover why the liberty ships were breaking in two. Minor changes in design and more rigid welding control enforced in 1947 eliminated liberty ship losses until 1955.
Through his membership in a group called the Six Companies
Six Companies
Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam across the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona....
, Kaiser also had a major role in the Joshua Hendy Iron Works
Joshua Hendy Iron Works
The Joshua Hendy Iron Works was an American engineering company that existed from the 1850s to the late 1940s. It was at one time a world leader in mining technology and its equipment was used to build the Panama Canal, amongst other major projects...
of Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
which built the EC-2 triple expansion steam engines for the Liberty ships.
Kaiser and his associates organized the California Shipbuilding Corporation
California Shipbuilding Corporation
California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including Haskell-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship...
.
The Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital for the Kaiser Shipyards was also financed by the U.S. Maritime Commission, and opened on August 10, 1942. Sponsored by Henry J. Kaiser's Permanente Foundation, it was run by Medical Director Sidney R. Garfield, M.D. The Field Hospital served as the mid-level component of a three-tier medical care system that also included six well-equipped First Aid Stations at the individual shipyards, and the main Permanente Hospital in Oakland, where the most critical cases were treated.
By August 1944, 92.2 percent of all Richmond shipyard employees had joined the plan, the first voluntary group plan in the country to feature group medical practice, prepayment and substantial medical facilities on such a large scale. After the war ended, the Health Plan was expanded to include workers' families. By 1990, Kaiser Permanente was still the country's largest nonprofit HMO.
In part due to wartime materials rationing, the Field Hospital is a single-story wood frame structure designed in a simple modernist mode. Originally intended for use primarily as an emergency facility, the Field Hospital opened with only 10 beds. Later additions increased its capacity to 160 beds by 1944. The Field Hospital operated as a Kaiser Permanente hospital until closing in 1995.
Post-World War II
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
suburban community of Hawaii Kai
Hawaii Kai, Hawaii
Hawaii Kai is a largely residential area located in the City & County of Honolulu, in the Honolulu CDP on the island of Oahu. Hawaii Kai is the largest of several communities at the eastern end of the island. The area was largely developed by Henry J. Kaiser around the ancient Maunalua...
in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
(where there is a public high school
Kaiser High School
Henry J. Kaiser High School is a WASC-accredited four-year public high school located in Honolulu, Hawaii.-Basic Information:Named after industrialist Henry J. Kaiser , the school opened its doors in 1971, four years after Kaiser's death...
named in his honor) and Panorama City
Panorama City, Los Angeles, California
Panorama City is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It is known as the San Fernando Valley's first planned community.-Description:...
near Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
In 1945, Kaiser partnered with veteran automobile executive Joseph Frazer to establish a new automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
company from the remnants of Graham-Paige
Graham-Paige
Graham-Paige was an American automobile manufacturer founded by brothers Joseph B. Graham and Robert C. Graham , and Canadian Ray Austin in 1927. Automobile production ceased in 1940, and its automotive assets were acquired by Kaiser-Frazer in 1947...
, of which Frazer had been president. It would use a surplus Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
defense plant at Willow Run, Michigan
Willow Run
The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft....
originally built for World War II aircraft production by Ford. Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operations to the Willys plant at Toledo, Ohio...
produced cars under the Kaiser and Frazer names until 1955, when it abandoned the U.S. market and moved production to plants in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. In the late 1960s, these South American operations were sold to a Ford-Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
combine. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
line of utility vehicles, changing its name to Willys Motors. In 1963, the name was changed again to Kaiser-Jeep, which was ultimately sold to American Motors Corporation in 1970. As part of the transaction, Kaiser acquired a 22% interest in AMC, which was later divested.
Kaiser founded Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum is an American aluminum producer. The company was founded in 1946 by American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Kaiser entered the aluminum business by leasing, then purchasing three government-owned aluminum facilities in Washington state. These were the primary reduction plants at...
in 1946 with the lease and eventual purchase of three aluminum facilities from the United States Government. Over the ensuing decades, Kaiser Aluminum grew to become involved in virtually all aspects of the aluminum industry, including the mining and refining of bauxite into alumina, the production of primary aluminum from alumina, and the manufacture of fabricated and semi-fabricated aluminum products.
In 1948, Kaiser established the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (also known as Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...
), a U.S.-based, non-profit, private operating foundation
Foundation (charity)
A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes....
focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation, not associated with Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
or Kaiser Industries, is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public.
Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union was founded in 1952 and served employees of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Group, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. In September of 2008, the The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) selected Alliant Credit Union, based in Chicago, Illinois, to purchase the assets of Kaiperm Federal Credit Union of Oakland, California. The purchase and assumption was completed on September 26, 2008.
Kaiser Federal Bank was originally founded in 1953 as a credit union to serve the employees of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in Los Angeles, California and converted to a federal mutual savings bank in 1999. Kaiser Federal Financial Group, Inc. is a Maryland corporation that owns all of the outstanding common stock of Kaiser Federal Bank. The stock of Kaiser Federal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the NASDAQ under the trading symbol "KFFG".
Henry Kaiser spent much of his later years in Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and developed an obsession with perfecting its urban landscape. He founded the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel, today known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village
Hilton Hawaiian Village
The Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa, formerly the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel, has been a popular hotel in the Waikiki area of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States since 1957. It is the largest hotel of the Hilton chain, with 3,386 rooms and with 7 towers...
. Kaiser also constructed one of the first commercially practical geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
s in the United States at this resort.
Death
In 1967, Kaiser died at the age of 85 in HonoluluHonolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Legacy
Kaiser was involved in building civic centers, roads, and schools. He was part of the consortium that constructed the Hoover DamHoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
and Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy...
. Kaiser is also noted for advancing medicine with the development and construction of several hospitals, medical centers and medical schools. His mining town of Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California
Eagle Mountain, California is a modern day ghost town, in the Colorado Desert, in Riverside County founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, then Kaiser Steel,...
, part of the West Coast's first integrated mining/processing operation linked by rail to his mill in Fontana, California
Fontana, California
Fontana is a city of 196,069 residents in San Bernardino County, California. Founded in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area...
, was the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
, the first health maintenance organization
Health maintenance organization
A health maintenance organization is an organization that provides managed care for health insurance contracts in the United States as a liaison with health care providers...
. Fontana is now home to another public high school named in his honor. His grandson, Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr.
Edgar Kaiser
Edgar Fosburgh Kaiser, Jr is a Canadian financier and a former owner of the Denver Broncos American football team. He was born in Portland, Oregon on 5 July 1942 and is the grandson of shipbuilding industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. He earned a BA degree from Stanford University and an MBA degree...
, was the former President of Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
. From 1981–1984, he also owned the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
franchise. Another grandson, also named Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (musician)
Henry Kaiser is an American guitarist and composer.Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.-Biography:His grandfather was the...
, is a widely known experimental guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
.
In 1984, the Oakland Auditorium was renamed the Kaiser Convention Center
Kaiser Convention Center
The Kaiser Convention Center is a 5,492-seat multi-purpose arena in Oakland, California that opened in 1914. In the 1950's and 1960's the Roller Derby played there hundreds of times. It was home to the Oakland Skates roller hockey team. Originally known as the Oakland Auditorium, it was renamed in...
in honor of Kaiser after a renovation that year.
A class of 18 United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
fleet replenishment oilers built in the 1980s and 1990s is named the Henry J. Kaiser class
Henry J. Kaiser class oiler
The Henry J. Kaiser class is an American class of eighteen fleet replenishment oilers which began construction in August 1984. The class comprises fifteen oilers which are operated by Military Sealift Command to provide underway replenishment of fuel to United States Navy combat ships and jet fuel...
. Its lead unit, USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO-187), the first U.S. Navy ship named for Kaiser, entered service with the Military Sealift Command
Military Sealift Command
The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...
on December 19, 1986.
On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
announced that Kaiser would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame
California Hall of Fame
Conceived by First Lady Maria Shriver, the California Hall of Fame was established at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts to honor individuals and families who embody California’s innovative spirit and have made their mark on history...
inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
External links
- Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
- Detailed biography
- History of Kaiser Aluminum
- Kaisers Last Liberty Ship (video link).
- Henry J. Kaiser online image collection, The Bancroft Library