Persons, Wallace R.

Persons, Wallace R. (“Buck”)

(1909– ) business executive; born in Cleveland, Ohio. He worked his way through the sales hierarchy at Lincoln Electric Co., Cleveland (1934–53). As president, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., St. Louis (1954–74), he masterminded an acquisition program that turned a manufacturer of fans into a technologically oriented conglomerate admired for its prudent management and high earnings.