[2] His father was a noted professor who traveled extensively, leaving his mother to raise him and his siblings.

[4] Alonzo Mather attended Fairfield Seminary, and upon graduation, was allowed to choose between continuing his education in college or entering the workforce in business.

[5] Mather's design amenities for the livestock included feeding and watering facilities that had previously been unapplied to railroad rolling stock.

Mather recognized that many railroads would be willing to reduce their operating expenses by leasing rolling stock rather than purchasing or building it, so his company began leasing the cars that it produced — a practice that helped keep the company solvent through the Great Depression of the 1930s.

[1][7] Upon his death in Los Angeles, California, Alonzo Mather's estate totaled around US$5 million, $3 million of which was bequeathed to build the Alonzo Mather Aged Ladies' Home in Evanston, IL, and another $15,000 to build a new Episcopal church in his family's home town of Fairfield, NY.