Michael P. Grace

Life & Legacy

Michael Paul Grace (1842 – September 20, 1920) was an Irish-American businessman who was a shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of W. R. Grace and Company shipping company of New York City and of Grace Brothers & Co. Ltd. of London, England.
Born in Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland. to a wealthy family, as a young man he went to Peru where his father had business interests and where he joined his brother William Russell Grace who had formed a partnership with John Bryce to operate as ship chandlers. William Grace would emigrate to the United States in 1865 where he established W. R. Grace & Co. of New York, while Michael Grace remained in Peru developing government contacts for the business that became Grace Brothers & Co.
Michael Grace expanded the business into new fields including a near monopoly in the business of supplying the construction contractors building Peru's railway system with rail track iron and timber for rail ties plus foodstuffs and other provisions. The Grace brothers' influence with the Peruvian government saw them obtain most of the contracts to provide munitions and battle ships during the Peru-Chile War of the Pacific between 1877 and 1884. When the war ended, Michael Grace traveled to England and in 1887 put together a consortium of lenders to provide the funding necessary to stabilize the cash-strapped government of Peru.