Robert Means Thompson
Robert Means Thompson (1849-1930) graduated from the United States Naval Academy, then located in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1868 and served for two years on U.S. warships cruising in the Mediterranean. His final tour of duty was back at Newport where he met his future wife, Sarah Gibbs, the daughter of Rhode Island Governor William C. Gibbs. After leaving the navy, Thompson studied law with his older brother in southern Ohio. Although he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1872, he wanted more legal education and enrolled in the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1874.
In 1879, he became president of the Orford Copper Company. With the financial backing of the Rothchilds, he purchased copper mines in the United States and Canada and, in 1902, combined them into the International Nickel Company.
Although a former naval officer, Thompson was known as “The Colonel,” the rank the governor of New Jersey gave him when he became inspector of the state’s troop housing and training facilities during the Spanish American War. When his daughter, Sarah Gibbs Thompson Pell, and son-in-law, Stephen H.P. Pell, approached him to provide the financial backing for the restoration of Fort Ticonderoga, Thompson reportedly said, “Why not! Have it done and send the bill to me.” He pledged $500,000 for the project.
Thompson was interested in athletics and sponsored the Thompson Cup that was given to the winner of the annual Army-Navy football game. In addition, he chaired the American Olympic Committee for the 1912 Olympics, made famous by the controversy surrounding Jim Thorpe’s two gold medals, and the 1924 Olympics, made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire. Thompson died at The Pavilion in 1930.
