purposes, endless problems for George III.
Eventually, when Titan Industries was sold to Smythson-L&D, George was eased out of his role as a vice-president-without-portfolio and he never worked again. He did, however, continue to manage the family's liquid portfolio, with results that were, as we shall see, unfortunate.
Jake Titan turned out to be the most successful member of his generation in the Titan family, using his small law firm as a vehicle to build very significant wealth for himself. Along the way, however, Jake alienated many people in Pittsburgh with his hard-charging ways and he struggled to build his law firm because he found it impossible to delegate authority or to allow younger lawyers to have any significant responsibility for the management of the firm.
As a result, it was Jake Jr., Jake's son, who actually built J. Titan & Partners into a serious law firm. Jake Jr. had begun his legal life working for a Pittsburgh law firm that competed with J. Titan & Partners. But when Jake Sr. became ill, Jake Jr. moved over to J. Titan and ultimately became one of its most dominant partners.
The long hours at the law office didn't leave Jake Jr. much time for a social life, but he did finally marry just after World War II, and his son – and only biological child – Edward (Ned) Titan was born in 1948. Unfortunately, Jake's wife died in childbirth, leaving Jake as a single father. (From this point forward, “Jake” will refer to the son, technically Jake Jr.)
This made Jake one of the most eligible bachelors in Pittsburgh, and mothers across the city were soon angling for advantage. Jake began to think that if he attended one more dinner party at which an eager, young, unattached woman happened to be seated next to him, he was going to scream.
Then Jake did something completely unexpected – he courted and married an older woman, a widow named Margaret Ellison who already had four children of her own. Margaret was five years older than Jake and had settled into what she thought of as a permanent widowhood. When she realized the young lawyer was actually interested in her, she considered the matter to be little more than amusing.
But Jake was nothing if not persistent. He bided his time, never pressing Margaret too hard, but never leaving her alone for too long, either. On Sundays they would have tea together in the ornate lobby of the William Penn Hotel, lingering for hours, Jake regaling Margaret with stories of the clients whose affairs he handled. Since Jake was now the managing partner of J. Titan & Partners, and since the firm was growing rapidly once again, Jake had many stories to tell.
On one of these occasions, Margaret expressed disagreement with Jake about how he was about to proceed on a matter. Astonished, and at first annoyed, Jake demanded to know how Margaret would handle the case. Patiently, and a little delicately, Margaret told him. The essence of the matter was that Jake was representing a young man named Eldridge who was hoping to build a better barge, barges being critical to Pittsburgh's reputation as America's then-busiest inland port. The ideas young Eldridge had come up with were quite interesting – they promised to shorten the time required to complete a barge by nearly 50 % – but the young man himself was too much of a dreamer ever to put his ideas to work.
Jake's plan was to ease the fellow out of his own newly formed company by merging the firm into a holding company controlled by Jake and several of his clients. Margaret objected, not so much because she thought it was unfair, but because she felt that if Jake continued to follow in his father's footsteps, that is, developing a growing reputation as a sharp dealer, both Jake and his law firm would eventually suffer.
Jake could hardly believe his ears. Who was Margaret Ellison to give business advice to Jake Titan? But as the conversation continued, Margaret remaining completely unflappable in the face of Jake's irritation, Jake found himself coming around to her point of view. His father did have a reputation for engaging in sharp practices – not precisely dishonest dealings, but barely honest ones. And Jake had learned some of these practices all too well. He'd already noticed, though he'd mainly tried to ignore it, that many young entrepreneurs were taking their business elsewhere.
Impressed with Margaret's insight, Jake asked her to marry him on the spot. And on the spot, Margaret agreed that she would think about it.
They did eventually marry, of course. By that time Jake's son, Ned, was four years old, as was Margaret's youngest daughter, Rose. Ned and Rose would grow up almost as twins, remaining remarkably close throughout their lives. Ned would eventually become the managing partner at J. Titan & Partners. Rose would marry a young client of J. Titan, a fellow named Landon Wainwright, who'd started a business offering commercial laundry services to hospitals, hotels, and similar businesses.
The Titan Family Tree
George Titan Branch
George Titan, 1834–1915 (m. Ellie McCabe)
George Titan Jr., 1868–1938
Ellie Titan, 1901–1908
Grace Titan, 1902–1978
George Titan III, 1904–1981
(Other descendants, no longer wealthy)
Jake Titan Branch
George Titan, 1834–1915 (m. Ellie McCabe)
Andrew Titan, 1869–1919
Jake Titan Sr., 1891–1945
Jake Titan Jr., 1921–2007
Ned Titan, 1948–
Suzy, 1984–
Geoffrey, 1991–
Rose Titan Wainwright, 1949–
Ellen, 1983–
Billy, 1987–
Summary
Now that we've introduced the first three generations of one branch of the Titan family (the one now headed by George Titan III), and five generations of another branch (the one now headed by Ned Titan and Rose Wainwright), we'll move on to their various adventures with managing their capital.
But before we do, I would emphasize the importance of a family's history and background to a financial advisor's ability to succeed with the family. You can't really know the man or woman without knowing something about their parents and grandparents. It's not always easy to get this kind of information, but it's worth going after it.
Chapter 1
George Titan III and His Catastrophic Mistake
Preparation and Use
George Titan III was the third child and only son of George Titan Jr. and his wife, Mary (see Chapter 1). George had a difficult career at Titan Industries, and was let go by Smythson Brothers following its acquisition of Titan. However, when his father died George became the patriarch of that branch of the family and inherited responsibility for its investment portfolio. His sister, Grace, would probably have been a better choice, but in those days it was assumed that the males in the family would handle business and investment matters.
And this is an important point. In some families in the early and mid-twentieth century, the brains of the family happened to fall mainly on the female side. But decision-making responsibilities continued to lie in the male line, right up until fairly recently. This meant that those families were fielding second-string players instead of their best, and
