Credit: Courtesy of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Eugene Grace rose from operating cranes at Bethlehem Steel Company at the turn of the century to Company President in 1916, a post that he filled until 1945. Bethlehem's prodigious output during World War II, when Grace exceeded his promise to President Roosevelt of "a ship a day", secured his company's prominence in the post-war years as one of the largest steel producers in the world. In 1930s, Grace joined the ranks of King George V, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Mussolini when he sat for a portrait by renowned painter Frank Salisbury.
