Richard Cottington
(1911-1981)

Mr Cottington at the front stairway of Wellington Estate 1956

Richard Cottington was the youngest of two sons born to Sir Charles Cottington I. Sir Charles Sr and Charles Jr. both served in the British finance ministry for decades and would have thought young Richard would follow the same path and yet for a number of reasons it turned out Richard
Richard Cottington was very bright, a perfect student who was attending Oxford University when to the complete shock of his family he announced he was not only leaving Oxford but leaving England as well. Cottington bolted for the United States attending Dartmouth University until 1932 before enrolling at Princeton to earn his PhD in business by 1934.
Cottingtons abrupt departure from Oxford can most likely be traced to a young lady named Vicki Montefusco, she and Cottington fell in love instantly when he was a student at Oxford and announced his intentions to marry her; this did not set well with his family, Miss Montefusco was not from the aristocracy or the well to do, and she wasnt even full British. Cottington rejected this programmed nature his parents expected him to follow, he and Vicki married and migrated to the United States where Cottington completed his education. While enrolling his newlywed into Cornell, Cottington landed an extraordinary opportunity in the newly created federal economics advisory board; which was to create and set fiscal policy in the country particularly concerning the Keynsian economic model in creative ways to stimulate economic growth during the depression. Cottington served in this role for 2 years then went to work for an international banking and finance firm for another 2 years, Cottington didnt find this work to be very rewarding and in 1939 after wife Vicky had graduated from Cornell, Cottington joined a road scholar group, a think tank of sorts traveling to major cities educating government officials and business leaders on Keyensian economic theory and fiscal policy.
On one particular trip to the west coast in 1940 Mr. Cottington met Garren Wellington, Cottington kept in contact regularly with Garren over the next few years while Cottington had bounced around from private industry jobs, then back into a govnerment position up until 1945.
The Cottingtons made numerous trips back to the west coast(they both enjoyed the west coast landscape) over the course of 2 or 3 years and finally in 1947 Richard Cottington accepted an offer from Garren to be the chief financial officer for Wellington Timber Corp.
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Though it was not known til many years later, Cottington was working closely with Garren Wellington in regards to financial advisement with Wellington Timber, perhaps as early as 1943.
Also unknown was that Garren arranged a rather substantial agreement with Cottington over the future of Wellington Timber and Estate. Garren was convinced that his son Liam would never want, or be able to see over the timber company, Garren wanted to hand pick an "heir to the throne." Garren wanted to make a "lifetime plan" agreement with Cottington, and Cottington originally rejected the idea; however with time and Garren being persuasive as he was, Cottington agreed to what Garren wanted. The arrangement would basically have Cottington be the administrator for the timber company and the estate. Norrine and then Liam would be considered head of the estate, but Cottington would be the administrator to create some sense of check and balance. Garren held the title of president AND vice president of the company, there was a chief financial officer, and an operations manager, in the event of Garrens death, Cottington would be the interim man in charge; however Cottington wasnt comfortable with this much authority and potential burden. The two then agreed that Cottington would be the interim in charge, and could then submit a new president and vice president, or he could nominate himself to either position but it would have to be voted on by himself, the operations leader, the two majority shareholders in the company, and the top shareholder in the company which would be Norrine Wellington.
This was to be a 20 year committment from Cottington and in return he would be paid a handsome salary, company stock holdings, and a half million dollar life insurance trust payable upon Garrens death. The trust had stipulations, however the package in its entirety was quite attractive for Cottington, at age 36 he had his career, his future and his retirement all set out for him and the family he wanted to raise over the years.
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This arrangement is important as it becomes critical to the Wellington Estate from 1951 through 1956. Garren Wellington passed away in 1951 and this would be Cottingtons first test beyond his normal duties with the timber company. Cottington was not particularly liked by Norrine Wellington nor her son Liam, no particular reason other than Cottington wasnt "family" and they seemed to have a general distrust of him. After Garrens death Cottington didnt appoint himself to be the new CEO, and Norrine quickly made it know that she thought Cottington too young for the position.
There was some squabbling at first over who the new CEO would be, but Cottingtons first decisions proved to be wise ones as he worked to gather the approval from the voting body to name himself vice president of the company, and to nominate Sir William Ficks as the new CEO of Wellington Timber.
Sir William Ficks had worked in the British Finance Ministry for many years and came to the US some time ago and was part of the fiscal body that oversaw a number of major public works programs in the 1930's and beyond. Ficks was an acquaintance of Garren and had met Mr. Cottington some years ago as well. Ficks had basically retired from public service but was talked into the position by Cottington and Ficks' experience and knowledge in business was more than enough to satisfy the voting body for the job.
Cottingtons second wise move was to keep the family at peace with him in giving Liam full oversight of the construction company that had been created by Garren. Cottington technically was in a position of authority to audit and oversight the construction business, but he felt it would be bad business to do so and potentially undermine is ability to oversee the timber company.

Matters reached a real stage of crisis for Cottington in 1956 when first Sir Ficks announced he was stepping down as CEO immediately, and then the real crisis hit a crescendo with the tragic and untimely death of Liam Wellington.
Richard Cottington would soon find himself in numerous controversies, with everyone against him, many disliking him, and somehow he was responsible for keeping the business and the estate afloat, he was about to earn every penny of the money he was going to make.

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