Bfgoodrich biography of christopher

American industrialist

Benjamin Franklin Goodrich (November 4, 1841 – August 3, 1888) was an American industrialist in the rubber industry and founder of B.F.

Goodrich Company.^[1]

Early life

Goodrich was born in the farming town of Ripley, New York on November 4, 1841.^[2] He was a son of Anson Goodrich (1792–1847) and Susannah (née Dinsmoor) Goodrich (born 1799).

Orphaned at the age of eight, he was raised by his uncle.^[3]

He received his M.D. from Cleveland Medical College (now Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine) in 1861, studied surgery at the University of Pennsylvania in 1863 and served as a battlefront surgeon for the Union Army in the Civil War with the rank of captain.

After a few years in a struggling medical practice, he went to work in Pennsylvania's oilfields and became a real estate speculator.^[4]

Career

After the war, he reached a licensing agreement with Charles Goodyear and bought