J. Spencer Love

James Spencer Love, also known as J. Spencer Love (July 6, 1896 - January 20, 1962), 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.

Early life and education
Love was born July 6, 1896, in Cambridge, Massachusetts to James Lee Love and June (née Spencer) 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 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.

Career
Love founded Burlington Industries in 1923.

Personal life
Love married Sara Elizabeth Love on January 22, 1922, in Davie, North Carolina. They had four sons;


 * James Spencer Love, Jr. (born 1926)  (m.) Meredith Morgan; seven children
 * Robert Lee Love
 * Richard Love
 * Julian Love

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;


 * Charles Eskridge Love (born 1945)
 * Martin Eskridge Love (born 1947)
 * Cornelia Spencer Love (1949-2020)
 * Lela Porter Love (born 1955)

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

 * J. Spencer Love; The Spencer Love Story Burlington Industries, 1962