Tenth Generation

9123. Francis Marion FOLSOM^{737,2570,2571} was born on 14 May 1894 in Sprague, Lincoln, Washington.⁷³⁷

He served in the US Army Air Corps during WWI in 1917⁷³⁷

In 1932/3 he was a Regional Manager for Montgomery Ward.^737,2572

Between 1933 and 1939 Francis was a Vice President for Montgomery Ward.^737,2572 He served in the U.S. Navy between 1941 and 1943^737,2572 He was the Chief procurement officer. In 1940/1 he was a member of the Council of National Defense Advisory Commission.⁷³⁷ Between 1943 and 1970 Francis was a Vice-President of RCA.^737,2572 RCA - Frank Folsom joined the Radio Corporation of America in Dec 1943, as Vice-President in charge of the RCA Victor Division and a Director of the parent RCA Company. It was his genius as a merchandiser, and his far-sighted business acumen, which made a success of RCA TV sets. He was a leader in winning public acceptance of the first TV sets, and in the commercial expansion of the television industry. He subsequently served as President of RCA for eight years (1949-1957), after which he served as its Chairman of the Board. Between 1957 and 1969 he was a delegate of the Holy See (Vatican) to the International Atomic Energy Agency.^737,2572 He died on 12 January 1970 at the age of 75 in Scarsdale, Westchester, New York.⁷³⁷ Francis was buried on 16 January 1970 in New York.⁷³⁷ A Pontifical Requiem Mass was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on January 16, 1970, celebrated by Terrance Cardinal Cooke, at which the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh delivered the sermon which is printed in the 1969 FFA Report. A series of articles commemorating his life and achievements appear in the 1973 FFA Report. He graduated in San Francisco, San Francisco, California.⁷³⁷ U. of San Francisco (LL.D.) He was a member of the FFA.⁷³⁷ He was a Life Member and served as a Vice-President Frank Folsom was born in Washington state in 1894 and enlisted in the Army in 1917 for duty during World War I. Following the war he used his natural salesman skills in a variety of retail positions. In 1932 he arrived at Montgomery Ward, where he served as manager of West coast operations for about a year. In 1933 he became marketing vice president for the entire company. In 1940 Folsom joined the Chicago department store Goldblatt Bros. as executive vice president, but in July 1940, he took leave to join the National Defense Advisory Commission to help direct the procurement effort with the possibility of war looming. He returned to Goldblatt Bros. in January 1941, but when the U.S. did declare war the following December, he returned to Washington, D.C., joining the newly formed Office of Production Management.

There, as chief procurement officer for the U.S. Navy, he became well-acquainted with David Sarnoff. When Sarnoff got involved with planning for the D-Day invasion, Folsom was permitted to resign late in 1943 to join RCA as a vice president and lend his managerial skills to the corporation's war effort. After the war, Sarnoff wanted to introduce B&W television as soon as possible, and he put Frank Folsom in charge of marketing. The 630TS television was introduced in 1946 at a cost of $375.

Sarnoff and Folsom found they functioned well as a team, with Sarnoff basically setting strategy and Folsom implementing it. Folsom was elected RCA president in 1949, a position he held until 1957. During this time the major events that took place at RCA were the FCC's adoption of RCA's color TV standard, and RCA's marketing of color TV receivers starting with the CT-100 in 1954.

RCA began its ill-fated foray into the computer business with the introduction of the Bizmac in 1956. John Burns had extensive experience in this area, and he was appointed RCA president in March 1957. At that time Frank Folsom was elevated to vice chairman and chairman of the executive committee. In 1961 he retired from RCA but remained on the board of directors. He remained a director of RCA until his death on January 12, 1970 at the age of 75.

Francis Marion FOLSOM and Gladys Mabel JORDAN were married on 5 August 1917 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California.^737,2570

Gladys Mabel JORDAN^737,2570 was born on 22 November 1897 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California.⁷³⁷ She died on 4 October 1956 at the age of 58 in New York City, New York, New York.⁷³⁷

Francis Marion FOLSOM-55259 and Gladys Mabel JORDAN-55331 had the following children: