Howard Andrews Poillon was descended from a noted Hugenot family that arrived in New York around 1640. Poillon was born in 1879 to parents Cornelius Poillon Jr. (of C and R Poillon, 19th-century Brooklyn shipbuilders) and Clara Louise Poillon, an artist-potter.
As a young man, Poillon studied for a year at Columbia University School of Mines, then prospected in Alaska for 10 years, where he was a mucker in the gold mines. In 1910, he became manager of the Vanadium Mines in Cutter, New Mexico, and later formed his own firm of consulting engineers for mining.
Poillon became a director of Research Corporation in 1920. He became president in 1927, a post he held until suffering a debilitating stroke in 1944.
RC’s founder, Frederick Gardner Cottrell, and Poillon were frequent correspondents, writing long letters to each other almost daily. Prior to Poillon’s stroke, Cottrell had consistently addressed his letters to “My dear Poillon.” Interestingly, during Poillon’s recovery, Cottrell addressed his letters to “Dear Howard” and Poillon to “Dear Fred.” After Poillon had recuperated a few months, they returned to their previous, more formal greetings.
Howard Poillon died in 1954 at age 74.