J. Roderick MacArthur: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:54, 7 September 2020

Revision as of 03:25, 15 September 2020

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Rod MacArthur attended [[Rollins College]] in [[Florida]] and worked as a [[stringer (journalism)|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 corps, 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 collectablecollectible plates, MacArthur noticed that the ceramic-collectablecollectible market was chaotic. He started the [[Bradford Exchange]], and by the time of his death, it sold about 90 percent of all the collectablecollectible plates in the world. Often credited with becoming "a self-made millionaire," MacArthur did have some financial backing from his father, but the concept, business plan and effort behind the Bradford Exchange were Rod MacArthur's own.

In 1975, once the business had become successful, MacArthur's father claimed that the Bradford Exchange was ''his'' business, seizing its customer lists and putting the on-hand inventory under lock and key. Rod MacArthur then organized a group of employees to enter his father's warehouse in Northbrook, Illinois, and hustle the inventory into a waiting fleet of trucks. He reestablished the business away from his father.