William Appleton Coolidge

William Appleton Coolidge (October 22, 1901 – May 24, 1992) was an American lawyer, financier, and art collector, known also as a philanthropist.

[7] An associate lawyer at Ropes & Gray from 1936, Coolidge left to work at the United States Department of the Navy.

[10] In 1940 Coolidge was involved with the entrepreneur Richard S. Morse as a founder in the early stages of what became the National Research Corporation (NRC).

[3][1] Towards the end of World War II NRC participated in an effort to produce dried blood plasma which would be shipped to the USSR.

[14] In 1944, Coolidge, with Samuel Murray Robinson and others, was a witness for the House Naval Affairs Committee chaired by Carl Vinson.

Coolidge and his associate Richard Nichols moved to rationalize the resulting businesses, and Hugh Ferguson took over from Morse.

[17] In 1963, NRC, by then producing specialized aerospace products and other lines, merged into Norton Company, listed on the NYSE in 1962.