San Francisco County
Biographies
JAMES ROLPH
(III)
One of the successful younger business men of San Francisco is James Rolph (III), member of the firm of Rolph, Landis & Ellis, general insurance agents, located in their own building at 345 Sansome street. He is the son of Governor James Rolph, Jr., and Annie Marshall (Reid) Rolph, and a biography of his illustrious father appears elsewhere in this publication.
A native of the city of San Francisco, James Rolph (III) graduated from the University of California, leaving behind him a record of activity in college that gave indication of his later accomplishments in the world of trade and business. He is the only student who attended the University of California that had the distinction of being editor of the university’s annual publication, “The Blue and Gold,” for two years. He received his earlier education at the Agassiz Primary school, the Horace Mann grammar school and the Polytechnic high school in San Francisco, later going to the University of California. Immediately following his graduation from the last named institution, Mr. Rolph entered the well known firm of James Rolph & Company in the shipping and agency department. Two years later he formed the Enterprise Stevedoring Company, Limited, where he continued for two years prior to his entry into the general agency firm of James Rolph, Jr., Landis & Ellis, forerunner to the present firm of Rolph, Landis & Ellis, with himself as a partner in the firm succeeding to his father’s interests.
In addition to his insurance business Mr. Rolph has wide and varied interests. He is a director of Air Ferries, Limited, the only air passenger service operated on schedule across San Francisco bay, and a director of Hind, Rolph & Company. He also served on the marine and aeronautical committee of the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce, and has been an active factor in that organization from its very inception. On July 2, 1931, Mr. Rolph was appointed to the state board of pilot commissioners, a signal recognition of his years spent at sea. He first started going to sea while still in college, shipping out during summer vacation as a cadet, deck-hand and quartermaster on vessels of the Dollar Steamship and Matson Navigation Company. While at the University of California, Mr. Rolph took a course in astronomy and navigation. Since boyhood he has been identified with a shipping and seafaring atmosphere. The channel and approaches of the Golden Gate, as well as deep water and off-shore on the Pacific and Atlantic are no strangers to him. He is also a licensed aviation pilot.
On May 26, 1926, Mr. Rolph was married to Miss Nancy Jane Richey, of Merced, California. The wedding ceremony was performed in San Francisco.
In political affairs Mr. Rolph has given his support to the republican party, and his religious affiliation is with the Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Phi Delta Theta and Alpha Kappa Psi fraternities, the Olympic, Jonathan and Bohemian Clubs and is a member of the Hesperian Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West. He holds a high degree of popularity in the many circles in which he is active and has in every way fulfilled his duties of citizenship in a manner worthy of the name which he bears.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 8-11.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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