The New Canaan Men’s Club will feature author and historian Marc Wortman, co-author of an acclaimed book recounting the history of IBM and its breakthrough technology led by CEO Tom Watson Jr., at its meeting Friday March 27.
Titled “The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived,” Wortman and the book’s co-author, Ralph Watson McElvenny, one of Watson Jr.’s grandson’s, describe how IBM rose to the top of the industry with its development of the IBM System, 360, the world’s first fully integrated and scalable mainframe computer, leading to the digital age of today.
The book recounts the period when the ubiquitous computer punch cards led to IBM’s spectacular growth through a successive innovations in computer technology.
In praising the book when it was published in 2023, The New York Times described it as “A compelling new biography… [The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived] spins the Watsons into near-Shakespearean figures, as if ‘Succession’ were set in the era of ‘Mad Men.’”
IBM’s ties to New Canaan are extensive. Wortman notes that Thomas J. Watson Sr. lived in New Canaan and Tom Watson Jr. resided in Greenwich. Many IBM employees made their homes in New Canaan, Wortman notes, and Irwin Park was named for John N. Irwin II, the son-in-law of IBM founder Watson Sr.
The Men’s Club’s meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 111 Oenoke Ridge, with Wortman expected to begin his presentation at 10:40 a.m.
Wortman is the author of four books on American military and social history, including a biography of Admiral Hyman Rickover, and has written for Vanity Fair, Smithsonian and Rolling Stone. He graduated from Brown University and received a doctorate from Princeton University in comparative literature.
The New Canaan Men’s Club has openings for new members, men 55-years old and above. For information about joining, email ncmens@ncmens.org