Clarence Dillon (September 27, 1882 – April 14, 1979) was an American financier, and namesake of Dillon, Read & Co., an investment bank. In 1957, Fortune Magazine listed Dillon as one of the richest men in the United States, with a fortune then estimated to be from $150 to $200 million. Early life Clarence Dillon was born Clarence Lapowski. His parents were Bertha Stenbock (1862–1951) and Samuel Lapowski (1848–1912), who emigrated to the United States. Dillon's father was a Polish Jewish immigrant, likely born at Łomża, Poland, in 1848. His paternal grandparents were Joshua Lapowski and Paulina Dylion, the daughter of Michel Dylion, a Frenchman. In 1878, his father went to San Antonio, Texas, and married Bertha Stenbock one year later. Stenbock was born 1862 in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Gustav Stenbock, a Swedish immigrant, who was prospecting for lead and silver in the Colorado Western Slope. In 1884, the family moved to Abilene, Texas. They became naturalized citizens in the Abilene District Court, on September 25, 1891, legally changing the family name to Dillon on September 17, 1901. Clarence's father died in San Francisco, California, on June 23, 1912, and his mother died in New York City, on January 1, 1951. Dillon graduated from Worcester Academy, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the country's oldest day-boarding schools, and then Harvard University in 1905. Career In 1912, Dillon met William A. Read, founder of the Wall Street bond broker firm William A. Read & Company through an introduction by his Harvard classmate, William A. Phillips. Dillon joined Read's Chicago office in that year, later moving to the firm's New York office in 1914. Following Read's death in 1916, Dillon bought a majority interest in the firm and was chosen to head the company. In 1921, the company's name was changed to Dillon, Read & Co. In 1921, Dillon focused on the beleaguered Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company which was in receivership. He succeeded in crafting a settlement with Goodyear's bankers, creditors, and stockholders as was raising more than $100 million in funding in an extremely difficult credit market. In 1925, only four years later, Dillon bought the Dodge Brothers Company for $146 million in cash which was the largest such transaction in industrial history at the time. After the acquisition of Dodge, Dillon merged the company with the Chrysler Corporation in 1927 resulting in Chrysler's becoming one of