Executive Suite

A grey-haired woman walked into an office in Galveston, Texas' American national Insurance Co. building one day last week, sat down at a desk and began signing her name to a stack of documents. Mrs. Mary Moody Northen, 62, was formally taking over as head of the $400 million empire left by her father, W. L. Moody Jr., who died at 89 as one of the ten richest men in the U.S. (TIME, Aug. 2).

Under his will his daughter was named president or board chairman of some 50 corporations that he controlled. Ownership of the corporations was left to the Moody Foundation, a charitable trust that he set up to save his empire from being broken up to pay inheritance taxes. Mrs. Northen, as foundation chairman, and four other trustees-will vote the stock, thereby control the Moody companies. Among them: a chain of 30 hotels, three banks, eleven ranches, two daily newspapers, a commercial printing plant, a cotton company, and the American National Insurance Co., whose assets of $364 million make it the biggest ($3 billion of policies in force) west of the Mississippi River.

Growth of an Empire. The Moody empire was welded together by a soft-talking, hard-dealing man who was regarded by his business associates as a genius, and by his poorly paid employees as a miserly tyrant. For nearly half a century he controlled Galveston. Although he neither smoked, drank nor played cards for money, he did not object if others did. In fact, he allowed Galves ton Island to become the gambling mecca of Texas, and Galveston to become the state's only city with open saloons. Although he owned no gambling hall, he welcomed the tourists that gambling brought to his hotels and made loans to the notorious Maceo syndicate that ran the gambling.

His sharp bargaining led to many disagreements, but the old man never argued with anyone. After a falling out in 1950 with his only living son, William L. Moody III, who had been his executive director for ten years, the old man stopped speaking at all in his son's presence, later cut him off in his will with $1. Yet he named William Ill's son a foundation trustee. But Mary Moody was clearly her father's daughter. As a child, she had no formal schooling. Says one who knows the family well: "She didn't want to go to school so she just didn't go." Now and then private tutors taught her until she was 16. But most of the time she just stayed around the house reading newspapers, particularly the want ads and property transactions. She belonged to no social organization, had few, if any, friends.

In young womanhood she spent much time riding horses on her father's ranches. It was her habit to arise at 2 p.m., have breakfast and stay up until dawn of the next day. When she became interested in a young hotel clerk, Edwin Clyde Northen, her father advised him to get into the insurance business and, after they were married, helped him. They had no children, and in recent years Mrs. Northen spent most of the time with her father. Her husband died in May.

Modern Living. Old W. L. Moody Jr. was renowned for his frugality, once rebuked an insurance executive for giving a stenographer a $5 raise after 20 years' service with the company. But Mrs. Northen was even more frugal. Until a few years ago, she had no modern appliances in her home; food was kept in an old-fashioned icebox. She had no radio, and her house was heated by a wood stove. She dressed plainly, wore black cotton stockings. She drove a 1928 Studebaker until her father heard that people were laughing at her and gave her a Cadillac.

Before he died, her father also gave her some training in making executive decisions. Last week, at one of the first corporation meetings that she conducted, Mrs. Northen bravely announced an expansion program for her enterprises, said that there is "no limit and no ceiling to the expansion and growth" of the Moody enterprises. But Texans were skeptical. The American National Insurance Co. is regarded by businessmen as a solid, well-organized firm in a position to grow rapidly. Other parts of the Moody empire are not so solid. Many of the Moody hotels have seen better days, need modernization. Even if Mrs. Northen matches the business ability of her father, Texans figure that she has a big job on her hands.

* W. L. Moody IV, 30, a grandson; Shearn Moody Jr., 21, a grandson whose father died 18 years ago; Shearn's stepfather, A. J. Newman; and W. L. Moody Jr.'s legal adviser, Attorney Louis J. Dibbrell.

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