George Hearst

George Hearst
Hearst c. 1891 or earlier
United States Senator
from California
In office
March 4, 1887 – February 28, 1891
Preceded byAbram P. Williams
Succeeded byCharles N. Felton
In office
March 23, 1886 – August 4, 1886
Appointed byGeorge Stoneman
Preceded byJohn F. Miller
Succeeded byAbram P. Williams
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 8th district
In office
1865–1867
Personal details
Born(1820-09-03)September 3, 1820
Sullivan, Missouri Territory
DiedFebruary 28, 1891(1891-02-28) (aged 70)
Washington, D.C.
Resting placeCypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
(m. 1862)
ChildrenWilliam Randolph Hearst
ProfessionBusiness magnate and politician
Net worthUSD $19 million at the time of his death,[1] equivalent to $644 million in 2021
Signature

George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891) was an American businessman, politician, and patriarch of the Hearst business dynasty. After growing up on a small farm in Missouri, he founded many mining operations, and is known for developing and expanding the Homestake Mine in the late 1870s in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1879, he listed it on the New York Stock Exchange and went on to other pursuits. The mine's gold production continued uninterrupted until 2001.

After settling in San Francisco in the early 1860s, Hearst became a politician, first representing San Francisco in the state legislature for one term. He also maintained mining interests through his company. Hearst was appointed as a United States senator in 1886 to fill a vacancy and was elected as a Democrat later that year on his own account.[2] He served in the Senate from 1887 to his death in 1891. His only child from his late marriage (at age 42) was his son William Randolph Hearst, who became internationally known as a newspaperman and publisher, and was a primary inspiration for Orson Welles' 1941 film Citizen Kane.

  1. ^ Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996). The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates—A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present. Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8. OCLC 33818143.
  2. ^ Castle, Hearst (November 15, 2012). "George Hearst - Hearst Castle". hearstcastle.org. Archived from the original on March 23, 2024. Retrieved July 2, 2024.