All five of Swift’s sons were active in Swift and Company and related businesses, and three were inducted into the Saddle & Sirloin portrait gallery. Louis was the oldest son and grew sales to over $1 billion.
1863- 1932 | Artist: Ernest Sigmund Klempner (1867-1941)
Impact & Accomplishments
All five of Swift’s sons were active in Swift and Company and related businesses, and three were inducted into the Saddle & Sirloin portrait gallery. The eldest, Louis Franklin Swift, succeeded his father as president, serving from 1903 to 1931, when he became chairman of the board. He retired one year later.
“Louie” was also president of Union Terminal Railway and a director of the Live Stock Exchange National Bank. He published a biography of his father in 1927. During Louie’s tenure as leader, Swift and Company faced antitrust complications and had to dispose of sideline businesses under a consent decree, but it also experienced its greatest period of growth, becoming one of the largest industrial corporations in the United States, with sales exceeding $1 billion.
Did You Know?
Louie Swift published a biography of his father in 1927.