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Frank Donaldson Brown

1928

14 South Broadway

 

Irvington, NY 10533
                                                                                                       
 

The Oceania was a 156 foot diesel yacht built by Krupp in 1923 and owned by Frank Donaldson Brown. At the time of the chip order in February 1928 the 43 year old Brown was vice-president, in charge of finance, of General Motors Corporation and a member of the board of directors of GM as well as E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (Brown’s wife, Greta du Pont Barksdale, was a grand daughter of Victor du Pont). Brown’s legal address in 1928 was a 41 room mansion on the Caresend estate in Irvington, New York which was described at the time as one of finest estates in North America (Brown’s employment with GM explains the chips being delivered to Detroit).
 
 
Donaldson Brown in the 1920s Donaldson Brown in the 1930s

Donaldson Brown, far right, with the presidents of GM, Chrysler and Packard on the steps of the White House before a meeting with the President of the US in 1934
 

A few months after the chip order, in June 1928, Brown attended a wedding at Long Island, New York. Several guests were transported from New York City on yachts, including the Oceania.

Around 1937 Brown moved from New York to Maryland and in 1938 he put the Oceania up for sale.  The new buyer was Howard Hughes.  From the New London Day January 7, 1939.
 

Brown died in 1965—obit from the Washington Post