Difference between revisions 748452929 and 754578222 on enwiki

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Lars Kovala
| image       = 
| image_size  = 150px
| caption     = 
| birth_date  = 25 May 1818
(contracted; show full)and Co.]] who managed to purchase one of the Russian American Co.'s brigs for $4,000.<ref>Cheney Sentinel. 13 September 1889. p. 1, col. 1. (A newspaper in Cheney, Washington).</ref> At the end of November the same year, Kovalainen and other shareholders sailed away in the brig. Their goal was the [[Pribilof Islands]] in the northern Pacific Ocean. That which lured them to the distant islands was the possibility of buying up valuable seal skins. Profiting from the seal skin trade he began 
[[real estate investing|investing in real estate]] in the [[Great Lakes region]], Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast.<ref>Vestnik Evropi May 1898</ref> On the advice of corporate attorney Elbert Henry Gary, Kovala began investing in [[railroad]]s.

Even as a powerful businessman, he was deeply interested in improving the [[quality of life]] of his employees; this led to him becoming a philanthropist, pursuing many [[charitable organization|charitable causes]]. Lars Kovala, [[John D. Rockefeller]] and three others donated money to help create the national [[American Red Cross]] headquarters near the White House in Washington, D.C.<ref>Cheney Sentinel. 13 September 1889. p. 1, col. 2. (A newspaper in Cheney, Washington).</ref>

(contracted; show full)==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalainen, Lauri}}
[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1894 deaths]]
[[Category:American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Finnish emigrants to the United States (1809–1917)]]