J. Spencer Love


James Spencer Love, also known as J. Spencer Love, was an American industrialist, textile manufacturer and president of chairman of Burlington Industries, the largest textile company worldwide with assets of nearly $607 million and over 62,000 employees in 1962. The Martha & Spencer Love School of Business at Elon University bears his name.

Biography

Love was born July 6, 1896, in Cambridge, Massachusetts to James Lee Love and Julia Love. His paternal grandfather Robert Galvin Grier Love was originally from Gastonia, North Carolina and was co-owner of the Gastonia Cotton Manufacturing Company founded in 1887. His great grandfather, Andrew Love, was also a wealthy slaveholder.
The family lived in Cambridge because Love's father taught mathematics there. His maternal family had strong ties to the University of North Carolina; his maternal grandfather being Professor James Munroe Spencer and his grandmother was Cornelia Phillips Spencer. Love attended the Cambridge Latin School, received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in three years and continued to attend Harvard Business School for another year.
After completing his degree in 1917, Love served in France during World War I on the headquarters staff of the 78th Division, U.S. Infantry. After the war, he relocated to Gaston County, North Carolina, where his relatives were early textile mill owners.

Career

Love founded Burlington Industries in 1923 with support from the Burlington Chamber of Commerce.

Personal life

Love married Sara Elizabeth Love on January 22, 1922, in Davie, North Carolina. They had four sons;
They separated in 1939 and were officially divorced in 1940. He remarried to Martha Eskridge on July 23, 1944, in Cleveland, North Carolina. He had four more children together;

Death

Love died on January 20, 1962, in Palm Beach, Florida aged 65. He previously was a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Literature