Frederic B. Ingram

Frederic Bigelow Ingram
DiedAugust 26, 2015
EducationPhillips Exeter Academy
Alma materPrinceton University
Vanderbilt University
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseIngrid Goude (1983-2015)
Children3
Parents
Relatives

Frederic B. Ingram (a.k.a. Fritz Ingram) was an American-born Irish heir and businessman. Born to the Ingram dynasty of Nashville, Tennessee, he was charged with bribing government officials over a sewage contract in Chicago, and jailed for 16 months. His sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Shortly after, he renounced his United States citizenship and became an Irish citizen. He resided in California.

Early life[edit]

Frederic B. Ingram grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] His father, Orrin Henry Ingram, Sr., was a business magnate.[2] His mother is Hortense Bigelow. He had a brother, E. Bronson Ingram II, who died in 1995.[2][3]

His paternal great-grandfather three times removed, David Ingram, had immigrated from Leeds, England, in 1780.[4] His paternal great-grandfather, Orrin Henry Ingram, was a lumber baron in Wisconsin.[4][5] His paternal grandfather, Erskine B. Ingram, was a lumber baron and businessman.[5]

Ingram was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy.[5][6] He attended Vanderbilt University and Princeton University,[5] graduating in 1952.[6]

Career[edit]

Ingram inherited Ingram Corp. with his brother from their late father in 1963.[3] He served as its Chairman.[7] In 1970, he acquired the Great Plains Construction Co., an oil and gas pipeline and water line construction company headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, which became a subsidiary of the Ingram Corp.[7] The subsidiary built sections 5 and 6 of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; it also built a pipeline in Iran and bid for pipeline contracts in Saudi Arabia.[7]

In 1976, Ingram and his brother were indicted for bribing officials in Illinois for a "$48 million Chicago sewage contract".[3][8] Ingram pleaded innocent.[9] However, while his brother was acquitted, Ingram was charged on 29 counts and sentenced to four years in prison.[1][5][10] He was jailed in federal prison for 16 months.[1][4] His sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter in December 1980, and he was released in May 1981.[1][4]

His business ties were separated from his brother's in 1980; Ingram took the oil interests while his brother kept the distribution subsidiary.[4] However, he "failed" after he lost $100 million over six weeks in 1983.[4][11]

In 1985, Ingram sued William F. Earthman, the former Chairman of the Commerce Union Bank, a Nashville-based bank, over the repayment of a private loan.[1][12] He won the lawsuit.[11]

Personal life and death[edit]

Ingram renounced his United States citizenship and moved to Monaco after his sentence was commuted.[4][11] He later moved to Ireland and became an Irish citizen.[4] He lived off the income from a Liechtenstein-based US$150 million trust fund until Ingram Corp. was reduced to insolvency in 1984 by large oil trading losses.[5]

In 1982, Ingram was accused of raping a 25-year-old woman in New Orleans, where he resided.[1] She received US$350,000 from a jury in the Civil District Court of Orleans Parish.[1]

Ingram was married to Ingrid Goude, a Swedish-born model and actress.[13] They resided in Beverly Hills, California.[2]

Ingram died on August 26, 2015.[6]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g E. Thomas Wood, Commuter Relationships: How Fritz Ingram got out of jail -- and bitterly left his old life behind, Nashville Post, February 7, 2001
  2. ^ a b c Leslie Eaton, E. Bronson Ingram, Who Built Family Concern Into Giant, 63, The New York Times, June 21, 1995
  3. ^ a b c Carleen Hawn, Sibling Rivalry, Forbes, 9/06/1999
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ingram Chronicles, Forbes, 9/06/1999
  5. ^ a b c d e f Inside A $15 Billion Dynasty, Bloomberg Business, September 28, 1997
  6. ^ a b c "Memorial: Frederic B. Ingram '52". Princeton Alumni Weekly. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Lubbock, Colorado Companies Merged". Lubbock-Avalanche Journal. 20 April 1977. p. 13. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ "8 Indicted on Kickbacks In Hauling of Chicago Sludge". Mt. Vernon Register-News. 29 June 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "Six plead innocent to bribe charges". The Daily Leader. 7 July 1976. p. 12. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ "Federal jury convicts 5 in Chicago sludge trial". The Terre Haute Tribune. 9 November 1977. p. 26. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ a b c E. Thomas Wood, A Bad Penny: The return of the embarrassing brother Archived 8 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Nashville Scene, June 6, 1996
  12. ^ Tennessee State Courts: Frederick B. Ingram v. William F. Earthman
  13. ^ Mary Lou Loper, A Pasadena Vista With Special Appeal, The Los Angeles Times, January 26m 1986