Martin Maloney (1848-1929)

He came to America from Ireland with his parents in 1854 to escape the Famine. He grew at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and left school aged 12 to work in the coal mines before opening a grocery store. The store grew into a business and he moved into Philadelphia. Success followed rapidly and by 1880 he had used his profits to establish several companies that supplied water, electricity and gas for public city utilities. By the end of his career he was a principal shareholder in the American Light & Traction Co., Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was a multi-millionaire as well as a devout Catholic and during his lifetime he built several churches and homes for the poor. In 1903, after financing the repairs to the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, he was created a Papal Marquis by Pope Leo XIII and then Papal Chamberlain to Pope Pius X. He kept two summer homes, Ballingarry, and Cashel in Palm Beach. He had seven children but only three daughters survived to adulthood. He died worth $7.8 million.