[6] After the buyout, Schwab became the first president of the United States Steel Corporation, the company formed out of Carnegie's former holdings.

A major part of the company's success was the development of the H-beam, a precursor of today's ubiquitous I-beam[dubious – discuss].

Schwab was interested in mass-producing the wide flange steel beam, but that was a risky venture that required raising capital and building a large new plant, all to make a product whose ability to sell was unproven.

"[8] In 1908, Bethlehem Steel began making the beam, which revolutionized building construction and contributed to the age of the skyscraper.

In 1910, Schwab broke the Bethlehem Steel strike by calling out the newly formed Pennsylvania State Police.

During the first years of World War I, Bethlehem Steel had a virtual monopoly in contracts to supply the Allies with certain kinds of munitions.

On April 16, 1918, Schwab became director general of Emergency Fleet Corporation, a board granted by Congress with master authority over all shipbuilding in the United States.

Schwab was considered to be a risk taker and was highly controversial; Thomas Edison once famously called him the "master hustler".

[citation needed] His innovative ways of dealing with his staff are given a mention in Dale Carnegie's most famous work, How to Win Friends and Influence People, published in 1936.

In 2011, Schwab was inducted into the inaugural class of the American Metal Market Hall of Fame for his lifelong work in the U.S. steel industry.

Schwab's estate sold Immergrün after his death, and it is now Mount Assisi Friary owned by the Franciscan friars (Third Order Regular) who administer the adjacent Saint Francis University.

Schwab became notorious for his "fast lane" lifestyle including opulent parties, high-stakes gambling, and a string of extramarital affairs producing at least one child out of wedlock.

He became an international celebrity when he "broke the bank" at Monte Carlo, and traveled in a $100,000 private rail car named "Loretto".

A bust-length portrait of Schwab painted in 1903 by Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) was formerly in the Jessica Dragonette Collection at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming at Laramie, but has been donated to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Müller-Ury also painted his nephew and namesake Charles M. Schwab, son of his brother Joseph, as a boy in a sailor suit around the same date.

[22] Schwab died nine months later, on September 18 of that year, of heart disease at his apartment on Park Avenue in New York City.