John Lee Pratt

John Lee Pratt (1879 – 1975) was an American businessman. He was born in King George County, Virginia, received a civil engineering degree from the University of Virginia, entered the ranks of American business executives in two major U.S. corporations, and later purchased and helped preserve historic Chatham Manor in Stafford County, Virginia which, upon his death, he gave to the National Park Service.

Education and employment

Pratt was a farm boy who was adept at fixing things. He matriculated at the University of Virginia and received a Civil Engineering Degree in 1902. After beginning his business career with the DuPont Company and, particularly serving with note during World War I in its Washington State plant, Pratt was selected in 1919 by Pierre S. du Pont to work in a corporation newly created by du Pont and other significant, wealthy businessmen—General Motors Corporation ("GM"). Pratt was, in effect, DuPont's man on the inside, initially solely looking out for DuPont's interests.

Pratt rose to became a member of the corporation's executive committee and, from the 1920's until 1968, served on GM's Board of Directors. He was later a company Vice President and is credited with supporting the idea of purchasing what became the Frigidaire Division of GM and given credit for overseeing the development of the coolant, Freon.

In 1932, he bought "Chatham Manor", an expansive Georgian, Colonial mansion on the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, opposite Fredericksburg as his future retirement home. He paid $150,000 in cash for the property, roughly the equivalent of $2.6 Million in 2007. By moving to "Chatham", he was -- in effect --moving back to his hometown.

War Resources Board

Prior to the Second World War, Pratt was appointed by President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve on the War Resources Board. He later continued his public service as a member of the Lend-Lease Administration, in which capacity he came into contact with important leaders of his day, including United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall who visited Chatham to go duck hunting. Pratt met General (and later president) Dwight D. Eisenhower who also may have been a guest at Chatham.

Personal life

Pratt and his wife, Lillian, continued the restoration of the historic property throughout much of their lives. She died in 1947 and he became tired of the constant flow of visitors arriving to tour the property which, in the Colonial era, entertained George Washington and, during the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. The extensive gardens, installed by the estate's earlier owners during the 1920's, were such a draw for curious visitors that he actually had them dug up and reinstalled in a more subdued design.

Mr. and Mrs. Pratt were extensively involved in the local community in their later years and were quiet philanthropists supporting University programs in Virginia and college educations for worthwhile community young people who had been identified for their potential by other religious and community leaders. In no endeavor did they seek publicity or recognition.

After his wife died, Pratt continued to socialize with his former childhood friends in Fredericksburg, walking regularly into the city even though he could have afforded a chauffeur and any car in the GM fleet. His rumpled appearance belied his comfortable station in life while he continued his life-long associations and played in weekly penny-ante poker games with his friends.

Lillian Pratt died in 1947 and willed her extensive jewelry collection to the then-new Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Since the 1920s, encouraged by a family acquaintance, the businessman Armand Hammer, she had accumulated a large collection of Peter Carl Fabergé jewelry, including five Fabergé eggs; the Revolving Miniatures, Pelican, Peter the Great, Czarevich, Red Cross with Imperial Portraits examples, as well as pins and bracelets which were being sold by the then-new government of the Soviet Union to raise capital for the Soviet state. This collection, at the time the largest private collection of such items, had been initially acquired through purchases on her Lord & Taylor Department Store charge account. The "Lillian Pratt Collection" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is a key part of that institution's exhibits. Lillian Pratt is buried in Tacoma, Washington.

Death

Upon his death in 1975, "Chatham Manor" and 30 surrounding acres were given to the National Park Service which now uses the estate for its headquarters facility in the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park as well as a museum open to the public along with the grounds and gardens. Pratt also willed a portion of the Chatham estate to the local community to be used as a park and, further, gave land for the initial establishment of a local YMCA.

The remainder of his estate was auctioned with the proceeds donated to the University of Virginia (his alma mater), Virginia Tech, and Johns Hopkins University.

His cremated remains rest in Oak Hill Cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia.