Lammot du Pont Copeland

Biographical Information

"Lammot du Pont Copeland (1905-1983) was the great-great-grandson of founder Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, and the company’s 11th president. After graduating from Harvard in 1929 with an industrial chemistry degree, Copeland worked in the laboratory of the Fabrics and Finishings Department at DuPont’s Fairfield, Connecticut, plant. In 1942 he replaced his father, Charles Copeland, on DuPont’s Board of Directors and was appointed to the Board’s Finance Committee. He served on the Development Department’s postwar planning board during World War II and became secretary in 1947. Copeland was named vice president and chair of the Finance Committee in 1954 and was appointed to the Executive Committee in 1959. Crawford Greenewalt, recognizing that Copeland would serve as a unifying force on the board, chose Copeland as his successor. Copeland served as DuPont’s 11th president from 1962 to 1967, overseeing the company’s “New Ventures” effort to commercialize over two dozen new products including Lycra®, Surlyn®, Tyvek® and Symmetrel®. Copeland retired as president in 1967. He remained as chairman of the Board of Directors until 1971 and continued to sit on the board until 1982."

• Cofounder, Population Crisis Committee

He had three children, Bouchaine Vineyards winery owner Gerret van Sweringen Copeland, Lammot du Pont Copeland, Jr., and daughter Louisa C. Duemling, who married James Biddle.