Paul Tregurtha was born in 1935 in Orange, N.J. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1963. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1958 to 1961 and worked for Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company from 1969-1971.

 

He then started his career in the water transportation field by joining Moore-McCormack Resources, Inc. in Stamford, for which he worked until 1987, eventually rising to CEO and chairman. Since 1988, he has been chairman and co-owner of Mormac Marine Group, Inc. in Stamford and co-owner of The Interlake Steamship Company, Moran Towing Corporation, which operates 95 tugboats in the United States and Mexico, and Seastreak Ferry, LLC, a private ferry company operating in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in New England. Paul describes his current role at these firms as “giving advice and not caring if anyone listens.” He had been co-owner and vice chairman of Interlake Steamship Company in 1990 when its flagship vessel was rechristened the MV Paul R. Tregurtha and is now the longest active vessel operating on the Great Lakes.

Paul served on Cornell’s board of trustees in the 1980s and 1990s and rose to become vice chairman of the board. He continues to serve as trustee emeritus. His wife Lee, now deceased, also graduated from Cornell, as did his four children (one born in each of Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan and England) and 11 of his 14 grandchildren.

He resides part time in Darien, although his permanent address is in Florida. His hobbies, now limited, are golf, boating, skiing, hiking and rowing, and his interests include keeping up with his expanding family, learning to use AI and Chat GPT and learning to play bridge.