Martin A. Ryerson

Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932) was an American, lawyer, businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Heir to a considerable fortune, he was a lumber manufacturer and corporate director. He became the richest man in Chicago by the age of 36. A long-time trustee of the University of Chicago, he made large charitable contributions for the construction of buildings on campus. He bequeathed his extensive art collection to the Art Institute of Chicago. Early life and education Martin A. Ryerson was born in 1856 in Michigan. His father, Martin L. Ryerson, was a lumber baron in Michigan forests who invested in real estate in Downtown Chicago. His mother, Mary Ann Campau, was the niece of Louis Campau, the founder of Grand Rapids, Michigan and member of the Detroit's Campau family. Ryerson grew up in Chicago. He was educated in Paris and Geneva. He graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1878. Career Ryerson started his career as a lawyer. In 1880, he joined the family business, working for his father, who owned the only remaining lumberyard in Chicago in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. As a lumber manufacturer, Ryerson was Chicago's richest man by the age of thirty-six.