Edward B. Greene

He later was a director and chairman of its executive committee, and served on state and federal emergency credit and banking organizations during the Great Depression.[6][7] Greene was one of the bank's leaders who helped it grow from a single room in the basement of an office building into a 53-branch regional financial powerhouse.[1] On March 25, 1926, Greene was elected to the board of directors of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co.[12] There was rapid consolidation in the steel industry in the 1920s, much of it led by Canadian American investor Cyrus S. Eaton.[15] At the urging of a friend, shipping magnate Harry Coulby, Eaton (through Otis & Co.) began acquiring troubled steel companies.[43] The acquisition seemed to make sense: Corrigan, McKinney was a ready customer for Cleveland-Cliffs ore, and the steel firm owned several iron mines in Michigan.Although the Great Depression had begun in late October 1929, Greene and other Cleveland-Cliffs directors and officers believed the economy had only entered a short-term recession.It tried to convert the short-term debt to long-term, low-interest bonds, but the economic conditions in the U.S. made it impossible to find any buyers.[65] Upon taking up the presidency of Cleveland-Cliffs, Greene told its board of directors that some assets might have to be sold in order for the company to stay solvent.[78] Greene and William G. Mather worked with Tom Girdler of Republic Steel, with negotiations assisted by Crispin Oglebay.[77] To ensure the deal went through, in August 1934 the board of McKinney Steel Holdings ousted William G. Mather and installed Oscar L. Cox as president.These five-year bonds, secured by mortgages on land, mines, and shipping vessels owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, carried an interest rate of 4.75 percent and would be marketed privately.[88][89] On November 1, a syndicate of eastern banks agreed to buy all of Republic Steel bonds and preferred stock held by MSH.[85] Cleveland-Cliffs had stopped paying dividends on both common and preferred stock in 1932 due to the financial emergency caused by the Great Depression.[107] Greene countered by saying Cutright's description of the facts were entirely inaccurate,[109] but did admit that officers and directors of both companies had been working out how to pay dividends on Cleveland-Cliffs preferred stock for some time.[112] Cutright declared the attempt to dissolve Cliffs Corp. an effort to sidestep litigation over the loss of Cleveland-Cliffs' stock value.[107] No date was set for a stockholders meeting to approve of the plan,[113] but on December 28, Mather and Greene sent proxy solicitations to Cliffs Corp.[108] Cutright said Greene refused to divulge information that would allow the dissenters to evaluate the value of Cleveland-Cliffs common stock.[108] The day after the second emergency meeting, Wilbert J. O'Neill, the Cleveland attorney and former vice president of Union Trust who had served on the McKinney Steel Holding board of directors, formed a "protective committee" for the benefit of Cliffs Corp. preferred stockholders.[114] Three days later, Cutright filed a lawsuit in a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to compel Cliffs Corp. and Cleveland-Cliffs to allow a full and complete examination of their financial records.In a statement, Cutright said he did not oppose the dissolution, per se, but simply wanted a fair valuation of Cleveland-Cliffs preferred and common stock so that all stockholders would benefit from the wind-up.[110][116] The following day, J.P. Routh, president and chairman of the Pittston Company, sent a telegram to Greene reaffirming Cutright's stand on the dissolution.Routh's communication said that the company believed a fair valuation could only be made if the stock were offered in a block at public auction, and he said Pittston would seek to buy the shares.The second group, led by businessman Robert Congdon of Duluth, Minnesota, represented 161 Cliffs Corp. common stockholders owning 23,039 shares.[142] Regarding the illegality of the merger, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Charles J. McNamee ruled in favor of Cliffs Corp. on June 10, 1948.[147] An appraisal was needed, the court held, because Ohio law said market value was not the deciding factor in stock valuation.Additionally, Cliffs Corp. and the plaintiffs in the suit disagreed sharply over the value of mines, railroads, freights, hydro-electric power plants, and various real estate, timber, and other lands owned by Cleveland-Cliffs.After the plaintiffs and defendants agreed to accept McNamee's ruling,[150][151][ab] Cliffs Corp. (and its successor) was ordered to pay $3.2 million to the preferred shareholders who participated in the lawsuit.[150][151] Edward B. Greene resigned as chairman of the executive committee of Cleveland Trust on December 28, 1939, on account of poor health.[5] During the Great Depression, Greene served on the board of the National Credit Corporation, a U.S. government agency which operated in 1931 and 1932 to stem the tide of bank failures.[154] During World War II, Green was director of military relief of the Lake Division of the American Red Cross.