Reid, Daniel G.

Reid, Daniel G. (Gray) (1858–1925) financier; born in Richmond, Ind. He began as a clerk in the Second National Bank of Richmond and was vice-president by 1895. In 1891 he and friend William B. Leeds, taking advantage of the high tax on imported tin, bought a small tin plate mill in Elwood, Ill., forming the American Tin Plate Company of Illinois with Reid as president. They acquired a second company in 1898 and changed their name to the American Tin Plate Company. They also organized subsidiaries—the National Steel Company, the American Sheet Steel Company, the American Steel and Wire Hoop Company. In 1901 they sold the entire organization to J. P. Morgan who was forming U.S. Steel, for $140 million. Reid moved to New York City and acquired controlling interest in the American Can Corporation, where he chaired the board until 1923. His other interests included railroads and the $50 million Tobacco Products Company, which he formed in 1912, as president, with Henry Clay Frick and others.