James H. Binger

James Henry Binger (born 1916, died 5 November, 2004) was a trained lawyer who rose to become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell and later Hewlett Packard.

A well known philanthropist, retired Honeywell chief executive, horse enthusiast and New York and Minneapolis theater entrepreneur

Career

The son of a doctor, Binger grew up on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended the Blake School, where he met his wife Virginia. He earned an economics degree from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. On graduation, he joined Minneapolis law firm Dorsey & Whitney, where a client was Honeywell.

In 1943 he joined Honeywell, and became its president in 1961 and its chairman in 1965. On becoming Chairman of Honeywell, Binger revamped the company sales approach, placing emphasis on profits rather than on volume. he also stepped up the companies international expansion - it had six plants producing 12% of the companies revenue. He also officially changed the company's corporate name from Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co to Honeywell

Under Bunger's stewardship from 1961 to 1978 he expanded the company into such fields as defense, aerospace, computers and cameras. Honeywell was one of the eight major computer companies (with IBM - the largest, Burroughs, Scientific Data Systems, Control Data Corporation, General Electric, RCA and UNIVAC) through most of the 1960s. In 1970, Honeywell bought General Electric's computer division.

Outside Honeywell

Binger was a world traveller who over the years also had financial interests in the Minnesota Vikings, Butler Square in downtown Minneapolis and several hundred acres of land, including a polo field in western Hennepin County.

Horse Racing

Binger was already a horse man, who played polo on weekends to offload the burden of bringing home a full briefcase every night Binger and Virginia took over operations of Tartan Farms, Ocala, Florida from it's founder William McKnight in 1974, and then ownership in 1978 on his death. During their stewardship, Tartan Farms bred 1980 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Codex and 1990 three-year-old champion and Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled. The Bingers also bred and owned 1978 champion sprinter Dr. Patches, a son of McKnights horse Dr. Fager. Tartan dispersed the majority of its horses at the 1987 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, including Unbridled who sold as a weanling for $70,000. Binger also served as chairman of Calder Race Course in Miami from the late 1970s through the ‘80s. He also received recognition for his contributions to horse racing and was the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Champion Award recipient in 2000 Tartan Farm is now under new ownership, and known as Winding Oaks Farm

Theatre

Virginia had a love of theatre, and when her father William L. McKnight wanted to sell his two theatres, Binger stepped in to assist. He found the business fascinating, and after paying the gift tax and selling the Colonial Theater in Boston, he and Virginia agreed to expand the operation. Jujamcyn Theaters, named after their children, expanded to five theatres to create the third-largest company on Broadway behind the Shubert Organization and the Nederlander Organization - the St. James, Al Hirschfeld, Eugene O'Neill, the Walter Kerr and the Virginia:

• Virginia Theatre - this 1,275 seat theatre was designed by Crane, Franzheim & Bettis as the home of the Theatre Guild in 1925. President Calvin Coolidge officially inaugurated the theatre by flipping a switch for electricity in Washington, D.C. Previously called the ANTA Theatre, in 1981 the theatre was renamed the Virginia in honour of Virginia Binger. After being sold by Jujamcyn, it was renamed in October 2005 in honour of playwright August Wilson

Jujamcyn only owned five of the 40 Broadway district playhouses, but created a much-envied business model that has accounted for as much as one-third of the gross revenues. One box office juggernaut was The Producers, which won a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001

Binger was a life member of the Guthrie Theater board. On the announcement of Binger's death in 2004, The League of American Theatres and Producers announced that Broadway's marquees would be dimmed at 8 PM on 4 November in tribute to this extraordinary man.

Producer and President of Jujamcyn, Rocco Landesman announced that he planed to buy Jujamcyn Theaters, telling the New York Times that he had a long-standing understanding with Binger that he would buy Jujamcyn's five playhouses. The theaters had an estimated net asset value of about $30 million

Philanthropist

Binger was a leading member of his father-in-law's McKnight foundation, and set up his own Robina foundation on his death. He also made various other direct philanthropic donations, including:

• Yale University - probably the law school's biggest individual benefactor, he was recognised as a $1 million giver by 1987 and had continued contributions until his death
• Minneapolis Theatre - Binger was a quiet champion of theater, often bailing out struggling organizations and building up the flagship institutions like the Guthrie Theater. In the early 1980s, Binger and Leland Lynch put up the money to bring shows to the decrepit Orpheum Theatre
• McKnight Foundation - Binger promoted grants for the arts, international-dispute resolution and research into neuroscience

Personal life

Binger married Virginia McKnight, daughter of 3M chairman William L. McKnight on her 22birthday, having dated since high school. They were married for over 60years, and had three children: James (Mac), Cynthia, and Judith (died 1989). The couple lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Ardmore, Pennsylvania, before returning to the Twin Cities, settling in Wayzata, Minnesota. On her fathers death, Virginia McKnight Binger became Minneapolis's richets woman - she died on 22 December 2002. After Virgina's death, he sold the house they had shared and moved down town to Minneapolis.

Jane K. Mauer was president of the Tartan Investment Company in Minneapolis, which handled Binger's financial affairs. When Binger moved down town, he became close to Mauer and they eventually became lovers. However, as his colcon cancer progressed, his mental state deteriorated. The Binger family took court action to prevent their father making what they considered bad decisions, and specifically edangering the McKnight Trust

Death

Binger died of Colon cancer on 8 November 2004. In December 2005, Minnesota state announced a surplus, inclduing a death duties tax payment of $112M. Although not stating where this had come from, it was revealed as the largest estate tax payment state officials could ever recall. Greg Hoyt, the Minnesota Revenue Department's estate tax supervisor, summed his own reaction as: WOW!

Noa Staryk, granddaughter of Binger, later confirmed it was form Binger's estate - and that they were persuing court action to recover $200M given in a late will change to Jane K. Mauer. A tax expert estimated that there would have been a similar size payment to Federal Tax authorities, and estimated the size of the estate at $900M, even before including setting up the Robina Trust fund of $200M

The latest theory as to why so much tax was due, is similar to the case invloving Anna Nicole Smith - property investment, and transfer of these assets to surviving family members.

Trvia

• Jujamcyn derives its name from the names of the Bingers' children, Ju[dith], Jam[es], and Cyn[thia]. The Bingers launched the enterprise in the 1970s, when Virginia Binger's father, William L. McKnight gave them two theatres he had acquired two decades earlier
• Was part of a consortium which in 1991 took control of the Minnesota Vikings American football team. In 1998, the NFL approved Red McCombs bid to become sole owner of the team
• Was a Republican party supporter

Quotations

• I wanted to develop my own set of problems to solve - Binger, on why he went into a manufacturing and joined Honeywell
• Jim Binger brought the modern numbers-oriented analytical world to Honeywell, which basically had been a family-run company - Edson Spencer, who later became chief executive of Honeywell
• "My initial purpose really was to take a headache off his shoulders, and see if I could get the theaters to a point where they could be sold for a reasonable sum. But in the meantime I found it was a fascinating business and money could be made at it. One of the big differences between running Honeywell and Jujamcyn was that theatrical decisions, such as closing a play, could be made much more quickly than major corporate moves" - Binger in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press
• Binger created the market for Broadway here in Minnesapolis. These theaters and this theater district would not be around but for Jim Binger - Fred Krohn, who presented Binger-backed productions in Minneapolis
• Jim was a risk-taker. There’s nothing more risky than owning racehorses and owning Broadway theaters, so he was always challenged. …He took both victory and defeat with grace - friend, thoroughbred owner, co-investor in the Vikings and fellow Minnesotan Wheelock Whitney to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about Binger on the announcement of his death

External links

• McKnight Foundation
• McKnight Obiturary
• Racing Museum Obituary
• Time magazine interview on becoming COO