W. R. Grace and Company

W.R. Grace and Company is an American Columbia, Maryland–based chemical conglomerate. Grace is divided into three business segments—Grace Catalysts Technologies, Grace Materials Technologies, and Grace Construction Products. Grace is a specialty chemicals and materials company. It has more than 6,700 employees in nearly 40 countries, and annual sales of more than US $ 2.5 billion. The company's stock, listed in 1953, trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

History

W.R. Grace and Company was founded in 1854, in Peru, by William Russell Grace, who left Ireland due to the potato famine, and traveled to South America with his father and family. He went first to Peru to work as a ship's chandler for the firm of Bryce and Company, to the merchantmen harvesting guano (bird droppings), used as a fertilizer and gunpowder ingredient due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen.

His brother Michael joined the business and in 1865 the company name was changed to Grace Brothers & Co. The company set up head office operations in New York City in 1865. Working in fertilizer and machinery, the company was formally chartered in 1872, and incorporated in 1895.