In 1906 he created American Gas & Electric Co., and six years later created another holding company, Central States Electric Corp. During World War I he served as an assistant to Bernard Baruch, at the War Industries Board, in Washington D.C.,[2] through Baruch he was introduced to attorney John Foster Dulles, who represented Williams throughout his business career.
He also contributed financially to the American Museum of Natural History's 1926 expedition to Greenland, led by George P.
[1] Williams bought the Krupp-built Vanadis, then the largest private yacht afloat, with a cruising radius of 12,000 mi., renamed her Warrior, and refitted her for his own oceanographic and pleasure purposes.
Williams renamed it "Oak Point", and commissioned architects Delano & Aldrich to convert the mansion from a Dutch Colonial exterior to an English Georgian motif.
He also added an indoor tennis and swimming pavilion, several holes of golf, formal gardens designed by Beatrix Farrand & the Olmstead firm, and remodeled a U-shaped carriage house to accommodate his fourteen Rolls-Royce automobiles.
In 1927, Williams commissioned muralist Jose Maria Sert to create paintings depicting tightrope walkers and acrobats to decorate the Art Deco lounge of the sports pavilion.
By 1929, Williams had accumulated a fortune estimated at a $680 million (equivalent to about $12.1 billion in 2024) in public utilities, making him one of the wealthiest men in the country.
She spent much of the balance of her life living in Paris, and summering at her villa on the Isle of Capri, but returned to her Bayville estate several times each year.