Frank C. Rand

Frank C. Rand was born on February 25, 1876, in Red Banks, Mississippi. His father was Henry Oscar Rand and his mother, Ada Elizabeth Norfleet. One of his paternal great-grandfathers, John Rand (1786–1865), was a planter in Colbert County, Alabama, in the Antebellum South. Another paternal great-grandfather, Moses Carlock, was a large planter in Marshall County, Mississippi. His paternal grandfather, Jesse P. Norfleet, was a cabinetmaker from Suffolk, Virginia, who lived at the historic Dunvegan cottage in Holly Springs, Mississippi, until 1861. At Vanderbilt University, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. ==Business career==

in St. Louis, Missouri. Rand began his career as a stock clerk for the Roberts, Johnson, and Rand Shoe Company in 1898. In 1928, as president, Rand reported strong, steady growth. The company, which became the world's largest manufacturer of shoes, eventually changed its name to Furniture Brands International. Rand served on the boards of directors of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, the Mercantile-Commerce National Bank, the Union-Electric Company of Missouri, and the Mississippi Valley Barge Line Company. From 1942 to 1945, in the midst of World War II, he was the President of the Greater St. Louis War Chest. ==Philanthropy==

Rand was elected to the board of trustees of the Webb School in 1894. He served as its chairman from 1921 to at least 1940. and installed chancellors Oliver Carmichael in 1938 and Harvie Branscomb in 1946. Rand also served on the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis from 1928 to 1940. Rand served on the board of trustees of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri from 1917 to 1949, and as its chairman from 1923 to 1949. He donated US$300,000 to the hospital in 1928. His donation was matched by Jackson Johnson. As a result, the Rand-Johnson Memorial Building was named after their honor. Rand was honored by the American Hospital Association and inducted into the Methodist Church Hall of Fame for his philanthropy. ==Personal life==

Rand married Nettie Lumpkin Hale, the daughter of British-born publisher Philip Henry Hale and a Vanderbilt University alumna, on October 5, 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri. They had six children, including Henry Hale Rand (1909–1962), and Laura Hale Rand Orthwein, 1938 Queen at the Veiled Prophet Ball and married to William R. Orthwein Jr. ==Death and legacy==

Rand died on December 2, 1949, at the Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. The dining hall on the campus of Vanderbilt University, Rand Hall, is named in his honor. ==References==