Paul Goodloe McIntire

Who was Paul Goodloe McIntire?

Paul Goodloe McIntire was a stock broker, investor, and philanthropist, who amassed and then gave away a substantial fortune in his lifetime. The Charlottesville, Virginia native, who attended the University of Virginia, held seats on the Chicago and New York Stock Exchanges. He was a member of the French Legion of Honor. He endowed UVa's McIntire Department of Music and the McIntire School of Commerce, and is known in the region for the many parks, statues and buildings that he contributed to the city.

McIntire attended the University of Virginia for one session, 1878–1879, and then left "since I had to make a living." He subsequently became a coffee trader in Chicago, purchasing a seat on the Chicago Stock Exchange, then moved to New York and the New York Stock Exchange in 1901. He retired to Charlottesville in 1918 and began dispensing his fortune. Virginia historian Virginius Dabney notes that he gave nearly $750,000 to the University of Virginia in named gifts, in addition to gifts to the city of Charlottesville and other anonymous donations, and that by 1942 he had given away so much of his fortune that he "was struggling to live within his annuity of $6,000."