At the age of 14, Henry George Dalton (1862–1939) dropped out of school to work for the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad on Cleveland’s Whiskey Island. Seven years later, as a hard-working freight checker on the city’s iron ore docks, Dalton caught the notice of Samuel Mather. In 1883, Mather hired him as a clerk in the new firm of Pickands Mather & Company, which supplied and transported ore to steel mills. A mere 10 years later, Dalton became the company’s fourth general partner, and by the end of the 1930s Pickands Mather’s fleet of 47 steamships was delivering an estimated 12 million tons of ore each year. He was a member of the War Industries Board’s iron and steel committee during World War I, and later President Coolidge appointed him to arbitrate a United States Shipping Board dispute. He served on the boards of many companies, including Ohio Bell and National City Bank, and in 1932 was named chairman of Youngstown Sheet & Tube.

Having amassed great wealth, Dalton used it to support the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Orchestra and Kenyon College, and was also a trustee of Western Reserve University, Lakeside Hospital, Day Nursing Association, Jones Home for Friendless Children, Hiram House and the Cleveland Society for the Blind, among others. Dalton died in 1939 from complications following an appendectomy.