by Jefferson Davis Lilly II, JVCinC
Donald Macy Liddell, Jr. was an American businessman, civic participant, and member of a prominent intellectual and professional family whose influence extended into engineering, metallurgy, and academic circles in the United States during the twentieth century. Though less publicly known than his father, he was active in professional and social organizations and maintained the family’s long association with business, cultural, and philanthropic activities.
He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 11, 1907, the son of Donald Macy Liddell, Sr. (1879–1958) and Edith Caroline Stabler (1878-1963). His father, Donald, Sr., was a distinguished mining and chemical-metallurgical engineer, economist, and author, known particularly for editing technical works such as the Handbook of Nonferrous Metallurgy and for his professional leadership in American engineering circles.
Donald, Sr. was the son of First Lieutenant Oliver Brown Liddell (Insignia #06942) of the 68th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He mustered into Company E of the same as a First Sergeant on August 19, 1862, and participated in many engagements in the western theatre of the War of the Rebellion. He was discharged and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant on January 27, 1865 and was mustered-out of service at Nashville, Tennessee on June 20 of the same year. In 1866, he entered the regular army as a commissioned officer and was sent to Fort Morgan. A year later he resigned his commission and returned to Indiana, where he opened a law office at Lawrenceburg. He spent over 30 years in the active in the practice of law in Denver, Colorado for thirty years and served a term on the district bench under appointment from Governor J. A. Cooper in 1890. He was very active in the Loyal Legion, where he was an Original Companion of the Colorado Commandery, serving as Junior Vice-Commandery (1900), Senior Vice-Commander (1901), and Commander in 1902. He died in 1911 in Denver, and his body was returned to Greendale, Indiana for burial.
Growing up in this intellectually active environment exposed the younger Liddell to engineering, industry, and academic culture at an early age. The Liddell family maintained strong ties to professional societies, publishing, and technical scholarship, and these connections influenced his later interests and career.
Donald, Jr. spent his youth largely in the Northeast, where he attended the Pingry School and graduated in 1928 with a degree in economics from Princeton University, where he was in the ROTC program. Shortly after completing his studies, he began his professional career with the Fidelity Union Trust Company of Newark, New Jersey, one of the region’s leading financial institutions at the time. Working in the bank’s trust department, Liddell served as a financial analyst, where his responsibilities included evaluating securities and managing investment portfolios held in trust for individuals and estates.
Liddell’s civilian career was interrupted during World War II, when he entered military service in the United States Army. He was assigned to the Eastern Defense Command, and he served with distinction and ultimately attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, leaving the service in 1945.
Following the conclusion of the war, Liddell returned to civilian life and resumed his work in the financial sector. He joined the investment counsel firm of Templeton, Dobbnow, and Vance and eventually became EVP and Chairman of the Board; he retired in 1980. His directorships included those of the Investment Counselors Association of America, the National Smoke, Fire, and Burn Institute, the Cuban-American Sugar Co., the National Bank of Elizabeth (NJ), and the New York School of Interior Design. Through this work he continued to apply the analytical and managerial skills he had developed earlier in his career in banking.
Donald Macy Liddell, Jr. was a member of the New York Commandery of the Loyal Legion and served in various Commandery and Commandery-in-Chief offices. He was elected to the office of Commander-in-Chief in October 1961, succeeding Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant III. He resigned his office in 1962 and was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Durston Saytor, Sr.
Donald married the former Jane Hawley Hawkes, the daughter of Dr. Edward Matthias Zeh Hawkes and Mary Everett (nee Hawley) Hawkes, on March 30, 1946, at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey. Their union lasted nearly six decades and produced two children, Jane (Liddell) Bass and Donald Roger Brooke Liddell. The family lived primarily in New York, maintaining connections to professional and cultural institutions in the region. Donald died on October 21, 1999 in Manhattan at the age of 92. Jane Hawley Liddell survived her husband by several years and remained active in family and charitable causes until her death in 2005. Both are buried in the Liddell family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.