Russell, Lindsay

18 Nov. 1870–8 Oct. 1949

Lindsay Russell, international and corporation lawyer and advocate of improved foreign relations, was born in Wilmington, the son of Thomas B. and Fanny Bryan Havens Russell. Governor D. L. Russell was his half uncle. Russell was educated in the schools of Wilmington, attended The University of North Carolina, and received a bachelor of law degree from the University of Michigan in 1893. After practicing briefly in Detroit, he moved to New York and joined an established firm. In 1904, with two others, he formed the firm of McLaughlin, Russell, and Bullock in New York with which he remained until his final retirement in 1947; he ceased active practice in 1930 and thereafter made his home in Wilmington.

Following the panic of 1907, Russell was named receiver by federal courts of the Otto Heinze and Company, Montana copper king; of two stockbrokers, J. M. Fiske and Company and Ennis and Stoppand; as well as of other businesses. He made extensive business contracts in person in Europe and for a time early in the century was in London as counsel for the Equitable Life Assurance Company. While in London during 1902–3, he organized the Pilgrims Society with branches in London and New York. He founded the Japan Society in New York in 1907. The emperor of Japan decorated him with the Order of the Rising Sun for his successful efforts in improving relations between that country and the United States.

Russell also devoted his efforts towards improving relations between the United States and Italy during World War I, and for that he was decorated by the King of Italy. In 1918–19 he was chairman of the Council of Foreign Relations. He was one of the founders of the North Carolina Society in New York, active in reorganizing the New York Southern Society, a trustee of the Canton (China) Christian College, a member of the advisory board of St. Luke's Hospital, Tokyo, and active in conservation, the Good Roads movement, and other public causes.

He married Mary Eloise Davis of New York, and they had one child, Fanny, who married Richard S. Andrews of Wilmington. Russell was a Republican and a Presbyterian. He was buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington.