Mitchell, Sidney Z.

Mitchell, Sidney Z. (Zollicoffer) (1862–1944) public utility executive; born in Dadeville, Ala. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (1883), he resigned his commission in the navy (1885)—where he installed incandescent lights aboard his ship—and moved to Seattle as Thomas Edison's Northwest sales representative. There he organized 13 lighting companies. Challenged by the problem of financing costly utility development, he helped establish the Electric Bond & Share Company (1905), a utility holding and financial management company; by 1924 it controlled over 10 percent of the U.S. electric utility business. He established the American & Foreign Power Company (1923), which controlled utility companies throughout Latin America.