Richard Adams
Richard Adams was born on 9 May 1920 in Wash Common, near Newbury, Berkshire, England, the son of Lillian Rosa (Button) and Evelyn George Beadon Adams, a doctor. He attended Horris Hill School from 1926 to 1933, and then Bradfield College from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he went to Worcester College, Oxford, to read Modern History. In July 1940, Adams was called up to join the British Army. He was posted to the Royal Army Service Corps and was selected for the Airborne Company, where he worked as a brigade liaison. He served in Palestine, Europe and the Far East but saw no direct action against either the Germans or the Japanese.
Charles Edward Adams (industrialist)
He was born on 29 October 1881 in Toledo, Ohio. He graduated from St. Paul's School and Yale with an A.B. in 1904, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. After his graduation he spent three years as secretary to the banker Robert C. Pruyn. In 1907 he entered the brokerage firm F. S. Butterworth & Co., then moved to Callaway Fish & Co. in 1910. He briefly joined Foster & Adams and became treasurer of the Air Reduction Co. in 1918. He rose through the ranks of the company, eventually becoming chairman in 1937. Adams served on the boards of a number of companies, including the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, Pur Carbonic, Inc., Dry Ice, Inc., the Cuban Air Products Corp. and served as a trustee for Mutual Life. The highest point in his career came when he was made a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During World War II Adams held several positions within the government. In 1940 he consulted the Council of National Defense on industrial materials. He served on the National Defense Mediation Board and headed the iron and steel branch of the War Production Board.