Eugene C. Eppley (April 8, 1884 – October 14, 1958) also known as Gene, was a hotel magnate in
Omaha, Nebraska.[1] Eppley is credited with single-handedly building one of the most successful hotel empires,[2] by the 1950s the largest privately owned hotel chain in the
United States.[3]
Born in
Akron, Ohio, Eppley graduated from the
Culver Military Academy in
Indiana in 1901.[4][5] At the age of 19, he bought his first property, the McKinley Hotel in
Canton, Ohio. At age 33, in 1917, he formed the
Eppley Hotel Company. At its peak in the 1950s, the Eppley Hotel Company owned 22 hotels in six states. Eppley sold the company to
Sheraton Hotels in 1956 for $30 million (equivalent to $336 million in 2023).[6][7]
"He fought hard and held his own... and success was prompted by the love of the game. He was acquisitive and altruistic, proud and modest, but beneath it all humble and compassionate. His life seemed a struggle to keep his soft side from showing. He taught and inspired and disciplined... but exacted more of himself than any other. He was an organizer, leader, teacher, fighter, talker and giver. All of his facets added up to a rather heroic figure."[10]
Eppley was a renowned
philanthropist, who gave primarily to educational, civic and medical research causes in the
Midwestern United States and especially in Omaha. He was active in Omaha's social club
Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, which supported local philanthropy and was elected the King of the Court of Ak-Sar-Ben in 1932.[11]
In an unusual event, in 1955 Eppley through his hotel company donated food to the nuclear test experiment conducted with civilian witnesses, known as
Operation Cue. His and other private efforts were meant to demonstrate the ability of companies to ship and distribute food for "survivors" of a nuclear blast. Many witnesses were involved with civil defense organizations.[12]
Eppley also personally commissioned paintings by artist
Grant Wood. He commissioned the well-known "Fruits of Iowa" grouping in 1932, for murals for four of his hotels in Midwestern cities. Several of the paintings of this series are now housed at
Coe College in
Iowa.[13][14]