Timothy Mellon
Timothy Mellon | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 22, 1942 |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, heir, political donor |
| Known for | Heir to the Mellon banking legacy; major Republican Party donor; founder of Guilford Transportation Industries |
Timothy Mellon (born July 22, 1942) is an American entrepreneur and heir to the Mellon banking legacy, being the grandson of Andrew Mellon. As of June 2024, the Mellon family's wealth was valued by Forbes at approximately $14.1 billion. He has been a prominent financial supporter of the Republican Party.
Early life and education
Mellon is the offspring of Paul Mellon and Mary Conover Brown, and he descends from U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.
Growing up in a Virginia estate, he attended several boarding schools such as the Fenn School in Concord, Massachusetts, and Milton Academy. He earned a bachelor's degree in literature from Yale University in 1964. Although he briefly attended Yale Law School, he left to pursue a degree in city planning at Yale. A 1971 article in the New York Times depicted him as "a reserved Yale alumnus with two academic degrees who applied computer methods to urban planning."
Career
During the 1960s, Mellon launched a company specializing in software development.
Guilford Transportation
In 1977, Mellon provided the primary financial backing for the establishment of Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI), named after his adopted residence in Guilford, Connecticut. GTI expanded by acquiring the Maine Central Railroad in 1981, followed by purchases of the Boston & Maine and Delaware & Hudson railroads in 1983 and 1984 respectively.
GTI acquired the rights to the brand of the defunct Pan American World Airways in 1998. Its subsidiary, Boston-Maine Airways, operated under the "Pan Am Clipper Connection" name until 2008, when its Air Carrier Certificate was revoked by the U.S. Department of Transportation due to financial irregularities and regulatory breaches.
The company was rebranded as Pan Am Railways in 2006 and ultimately sold to CSX Corporation for $600 million in June 2022, with Mellon retaining majority ownership until that sale.
Other business ventures
In 1999, Mellon purchased Goodspeed Airport located in East Haddam, Connecticut for $2.33 million but later sold it in 2020 for $891,000.
After serving on its board for over two decades, he resigned as a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2002.
Mellon moved from Connecticut to Wyoming in 2005.
In July 2024, The New York Times revealed Mellon's involvement regarding the removal of the Narragansett Runestone in 2012 and its subsequent return in 2013.
He has frequently engaged in legal disputes over relatively minor sums; by 2014, he estimated having been deposed between 15 and 20 times and was uncertain about how many lawsuits he was involved with overall.
Amelia Earhart search
In 2012, Mellon contributed more than $1 million to support The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR)’s efforts to locate the remains and aircraft of Amelia Earhart. However, in 2013, he filed a racketeering lawsuit against TIGHAR, accusing them of fraudulent solicitation of his donation by claiming that Earhart’s plane had already been discovered in 2010 prior to his contribution.
In 2014, U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl granted summary judgment favoring TIGHAR after determining that even Mellon's own experts could not verify his assertions about the photographs from 2010. The court found no evidence of false statements or misrepresentations; Mellon's personal belief did not establish a genuine factual dispute.
The decision was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which affirmed without oral argument, citing lack of actionable falsehoods underlying Mellon's claims.
Political contributions
Between January 2020 and June 2024, Mellon provided $227 million in donations to federal candidates and political organizations, with the majority directed toward Republican interests. As of August 2024, $165 million of this sum was allocated during the 2024 election period.
2010–2021
In 2010, Mellon contributed $1.5 million to Arizona’s legal defense fund supporting challenges to Arizona SB 1070, which at the time was considered the most stringent anti-illegal immigration legislation in the nation. This law attracted widespread national and international debate.
During the 2018 election cycle, Mellon emerged as a significant political financier, notably backing the Republican-oriented Congressional Leadership Fund. In April 2020, he donated $10 million to Donald Trump’s super PAC, America First Action. According to OpenSecrets, Mellon ranked as the sixth and fifth largest donor in 2020 and 2022 respectively, contributing $60 million and $47 million in support of Republican candidates and initiatives.
In August 2021, Mellon transferred $53.1 million in stock to Texas aimed at funding border wall construction along the US–Mexico border.
2024 presidential campaign
During the second quarter of 2023, Mellon gave $5 million to American Values 2024, a super PAC associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid; combined with a substantial donation from billionaire Gavin de Becker, these contributions represented 97% of the PAC’s funding through June 2023. By March 2024, Mellon's donations to this PAC had grown to $20 million, rising further to $25 million by July 2024.
From April 2023 through March 2024, Mellon contributed $15 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC connected to Trump. After Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts on May 31, 2024, Mellon made a $50 million donation to MAGA Inc., marking one of the largest publicly reported political gifts. By July 2024, his total financial support for Trump’s campaign reached $75 million, increasing to $150 million by October.
Post-2024
In the first half of 2025, Mellon added another $2 million contribution to MAGA Inc., continuing his substantial backing of Trump’s political activities.
Political philosophy
Mellon’s political beliefs are detailed in his 2015 autobiography, where he condemns social welfare programs as "Slavery Redux," arguing that recipients become dependent on "a new master, Uncle Sam." He asserts these initiatives incentivize votes by offering escalating benefits such as food stamps, cellphones, WIC assistance, and Obamacare coverage—funded by a diminishing number of productive taxpayers. Mellon maintains that despite governmental efforts, issues like poverty, drug crises, and single-parent households remain unresolved, with public figures like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton intensifying social divisions.