Know your Alums: Owen D. Young
The University boasts an impressive Alumni network, offering ample opportunities for students to engage with the successful Saints that came before them. With our list of Alumni dating back to 1856, St. Lawrence must find a way to honor its most exceptional Alumni.
This is why our university library, a hub of student life, is named after St. Lawrence 1894 alumnus Owen D. Young.
All St. Lawrence students are familiar with the Owen D. Young Library. Lovingly referred to as “ODY” or “the lib”, the place is common ground for busy students who are cramming for tomorrow’s exam or panic printing at 8 a.m.
According to Harvard Square Library, Owen D. Young was sent to St. Lawrence at the young age of 16, before graduating in 1894. He went on to get a law degree from Boston University and become a partner in the first law firm he worked for. And he might have continued on this track if he hadn’t decided to dabble in industry.
As stated in a Daily Gazette article about his life, Young ‘94 went on to work with General Electric before founding Radio Corporation of America (RCA). The RCA timeline provided on the company website claims it was originally created to protect the American radio industry from foreign control, but later developed as a pioneer company in the radio and television technology industries. As a subsidiary of General Electric, RCA was an integral part of American life. In fact, RCA created the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), America’s first national television network.
But his legacy does not end here, however. Young ‘94 served as the President of General Electric through the Great Depression, ensuring the company’s survival by becoming a leading manufacturer of home appliances. General Electric was a key player in the “electrification of rural America”, according to Harvard Square Library.
Despite being renowned as a businessman, Owen D. Young is best known for being a diplomat. In the New York times issue where he was named Man of the Year, he is celebrated for his key role in negotiating German Reparations following World War 1. His counsel was so integral to the second and final renegotiations of these reparations, that it was officially named the Young plan.
Owen D. Young embodies an American legacy in industry and diplomacy, but also here at St. Lawrence as an Alumnus. And now, students who spend so much of their lives in ODY can know the history of its namesake.
“The Young Collection” is archived at the St. Lawrence University library, and documents his role in national and international affairs, and overall business success.