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Rod MacArthur attended [[Rollins College]] in [[Florida]] and worked as a stringer for the [[Associated Press]] in [[Mexico]]. During [[World War II]] he joined the [[AFS Intercultural Programs|American Field Service]], serving with the [[French Army]] in the ambulance corp., and he participated in the campaign that liberated [[France]].
He worked for his father in the insurance industry before they became estranged. In 1973, while working with a company that sold ceramic collectable plates, MacArthur noticed that the collectible ceramic market was chaotic. He started the [[Bradford Exchange]] which by the time of his death sold about 90% of all the collectable plates in the world. Often credited with becoming "a self-made millionaire", in actuality MacArthur had some financial backing from his father, although the idea, business plan and effort were indeed Rod MacArthur's own. In 1975, once the exchange was successful, his eccentric father claimed that Bradford Exchange was his business and John D. MacArthur seized the Bradford Exchange's customer lists and put the on hand inventory under lock and key. J. Roderick MacArthur then organized a "private posse" that broke into his father's corporate headquarters in [[Chicago]] and hustled the inventory into a waiting fleet of trucks.
== Personal life ==
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After Rod MacArthur blocked the sale of the company for $116 million less, the board found a buyer for Bankers Life that was willing to pay $384 million for the company.<ref>http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=152&print=yes</ref> Although this removed the Bankers Life issue from the suit, there were still Rod MacArthur's allegations that board members and key foundation executives were profiting at the expense of the foundation.
Rod MacArthur made two further lasting and important contributions while on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. First, he is the person who pushed the Board to offer the famous MacArthur fellowships, also called "Genius Grants".<ref>http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.959481/k.7895/Frequently_Asked_Questions.htm</ref> Second, in 1980 at the urging of his son John R. "Rick" MacArthur, then 23, Rod persuaded the Board to partner in creating and funding a Harper's Magazine Foundation to acquire and operate the magazine of the same name. This new entity acquired ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' (which was then losing nearly $2 million per year and was on the verge of ceasing publication) for $250,000. Rick MacArthur eventually took over the foundation that owned ''Harper's''.
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