Word: manteca
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Single Hobby. One of seven sons of a Saskatchewan General Motors dealer, Murphy-like most of his brothers-became an auto salesman while still in his teens. During the Depression he went broke selling Chevrolets in the farm town of Manteca, Calif., but bounced back as an Oldsmobile dealer in Honolulu. He made his first financial killing by stockpiling trucks just before the start of World War II, reselling them at a hefty profit. In 1963, he paid $3,800,000 to buy 90% control of the then-floundering Honolulu Iron Works Co., which makes sugar mills. By chopping...