Kaiser, Henry J

Kaiser, Henry J(ohn)

(born , May 9, 1882, Sprout Brook, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 24, 1967, Honolulu, Hawaii) U.S. industrialist and founder of more than 100 companies, including Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Steel, and Kaiser Cement and Gypsum. He undertook his first public-works projects beginning in 1914, eventually building dams in California, levees on the Mississippi River, and highways in Cuba. Between 1931 and 1945 he organized combinations of construction companies to build the Hoover, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams and other large public projects. During World War II he ran seven shipyards, making steel in an integrated steel mill and using assembly-line production to build ships in less than five days. He established the first health maintenance organization, the Kaiser plan, for his shipyard employees; it served more than a million people and became a model for later federal programs. In the postwar era he dealt profitably in aluminum, steel, and automobiles.