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William Neal Deramus Jr. (March 25, 1888 – December 2, 1965) was an American railroad executive. He served as the longest running president for the Kansas City Southern Railway from 1941 to 1961. Deramus led the company through the Great Depression by encouraging industry to locate on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Texas. He helped the railway avoid bankruptcy in the 1930s and refinanced $67 million in bonded debt that fell due in the late 1940s.
Deramus's formal education ended after 8th grade. Before he was 14, he agreed to tend the switch lamps eagerly and keep the station in order for $4 a month, and an opportunity to learn Morse code.
Within a year, Deamus was promoted to relief operator, and rapidly advanced within the company. From the L&N, he went to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), then to the Southern Railway (SOU), where, at 20, he became a dispatcher in Memphis, Tennessee.
His chief in Memphis resigned to accept a job with the Kansas City Southern Railway in Pittsburg, Kansas. Before leaving, the chief gave Deramus a recommendation at the Kansas City Southern Railway, leaving opportunity for him to succeed. He worked dilligently, and in 1945 he was elected as the president and chairman of the board.
He spent almost half his time out on the railway. It is said that he knew the 1,647 miles of track between Kansas City and the Gulf of Mexico so well that he could tell where he was by the sound of the wheels on the rails. Under the impetus he provided the Kansas City Southern, its net income was twice the industry average.
Deramus was a major figure in Kansas City's civic life. In 1957, the Deramus' family donated the Deramus Field Station to MRIGlobal to support the organization's growing contract research business.
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| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byC. P. Couch | President of Kansas City Southern Railway 1941 – 1961 |
Succeeded byWilliam N. Deramus III |