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Ryan (THOMAS FORTUNE an American)

THOMAS FORTUNE, an American financier. He was born in Nelson co., Va ., in 1851, and after receiving his preliminary education began his business career in 1868 in a Baltimore dry goods house. He entered Wall Street in 1870 and became a member of the Stock Exchange in 1874. He afterward became interested in the consolidation and extension of street railway and lighting systems in New York, Chicago, and other cities, and in the reorganization of various railways in the South, coal properties in Ohio and West Virginia and railways in Ohio. He purchased the controlling interest in the stock of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and in 1908 retired as officer or director in more than 30 corporations in which he was controlling factor. He was a delegate from Virginia to the Democratic National Convention in 1904.