Ellery W. Stone

Nutley resident retired Rear Admiral Ellery Wheeler Stone, chief commissioner of the Allied military government in Italy during and after World War II and former vice president and director of International Telephone and Telegraphy Corp., lived at separate times in the Van Riper House and Kingsland Manor.

Born in Oakland, Calif., on. Jan. 14, 1894, Stone attended the University of California, majoring in electrical and radio engineering.

Stone’s Navy career began in 1914, and he advanced through grades in the Naval Reserve to rear admiral in 1944. As a captain in 1943, he served as chief of staff to Vice Admiral William Glassford. He was appointed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff as chief commissioner of the Allied Control Commission and chief civil affairs officer of the Allied military government in Italy, serving from 1944 to 1947.

After concluding his military service in 1947, he headed the Commercial Cable Company, a subsidiary ITT, and later oversaw its American Cable and Radio Corporation division until 1958.

Stone was an internationally renowned authority on communications engineering. At the time of his retirement in June 1969, after completing 45 years of service in the ITT system, Stone was a vice president of ITT, chairman of the board of American Cable & Radio, vice chairman of the board of ITT Europe (Brussels) and director of various American and European ITT subsidiaries. He was a director of ITT from 1948 to 1968.

According to the 1948 Nutley Directory, Stone lived at 491 River Road, also known as the Van Riper Homestead which was part of the ITT campus. According to the 1952 Nutley Directory, Stone lived at 3 Kingsland Road, also known as Kingsland Manor. Stone, 87, died at Mountainside Hospital, Glen Ridge, on September 18, 1981.