duPont, Alfred Irenee

Deafened by a swimming accident in adolescence. Member of the famous duPont family of industrialists; steered the family business away from its traditional gunpowder-manufacturing focus and built the business into a major chemical juggernaut. A family dispute centering around his marrying a divorcee led to his being forced out of control of the duPont empire. He moved to Florida and independently built up a new fortune in real estate there. Established a children's hospital, the Alfred I. duPont Institute, in Wilmington, DE, and donated much money to other charitable causes. A biography is Alfred Irenee duPont: The Man & His Family (1990).