Henry Posner III
Currently on long-term loan to the CRP&A by the photographer, the Posner Collection includes 7,000 black-and-white negatives, mainly from the 1970s, with emphasis on Pittsburgh, the northeastern U.S., and Europe. The 23,000 color slides portray railroading all over the world in the 1970s to the 2000s.
SEARCH DIGITIZED SELECTIONS (EXTERNAL)
Biography
Henry Posner III is the globe-trotting chairman of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), a railway investment and management company, and he’s photographed railroads in fifty-nine countries. In addition to RDC, he also serves as chairman of Iowa Interstate Railroad, RDC-Deutschland, EuroRail, and family investment firm The Hawthorne Group. His leadership roles have taken him across the world and provided him with photographic access that few have enjoyed. In 2022, Posner and the Center announced a project to digitize and archive his color and black-and-white photography.
Born in 1955 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Posner attended Shady Side Academy as a student and fostered an immediate and lifelong fascination for the world of railroading. He attended Princeton University in New Jersey, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering before attending the Wharton School and receiving his Master of Business Administration degree.
During his college years, Posner held positions with Amtrak, The Official Railway Guide, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. He entered full-time railroad service at Conrail in 1977, serving its operating, marketing, and sales departments in Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia.
Departing Conrail in 1987, Posner, with his partner Bob Pietrandrea, founded RDC, which defines itself as a “global railway investment and management company, rooted in bold, ambitious partnerships.” As chairman, Posner has overseen the investment in and operation of railroading ventures around the world, ranging from Guatemala and Peru to Estonia and Germany. RDC’s history is profiled in the book Railroaders Without Borders by Prof. H. Roger Grant (Indiana University Press, 2015).
In February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Posner briefly assisted in crewing and interpreting on board a refugee rescue train operated by RDC Deutschland between Frankfurt (Oder) station and Hannover Messe station in Germany.
Posner additionally serves as chairman of the family investment firm the Hawthorne Group; as President of the EBT Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed to restore and operate the East Broad Top Railroad; as Iowa Interstate’s alternate director at the Association of American Railroads; as a board member of the Independent School Chairpersons’ Association; as an Emeritus Trustee and former President of the Winchester Thurston School; and as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Agriculture and Food Transport Subcommittee. He also teaches undergraduate courses on rail deregulation and privatization at Carnegie Mellon University’s, Pittsburgh and Qatar campuses, and has taught a graduate module at the Denver Transportation Institute.
Philanthropically, Posner’s activities have included serving as chairman of the Posner Foundation, which supports the Jewish community in the former Soviet Union, and participation in Operation Lifesaver, the largest rail safety education organization in the United States.
Named among the “75 People You Should Know” by TRAINS magazine for its 75th Anniversary, Posner was the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International for his work in Guatemala revitalizing the nation’s rail network. He is an occasional contributor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on regional affairs.
Posner lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife, Anne Malloy, with whom he has three children: Ida, Hannah, and Gus.
About the collection
Title
Henry Posner III Collection
Dates
1970s to 2000s
Creator
Posner III, Henry
International content
Collection documents rail operations in fifty-nine countries in North and Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Domestic content
Metropolitan areas in the eastern United States.
Provenance
The Posner Collection is on long-term loan to the CRP&A from Henry Posner III
Copyright status
© Henry Posner III
Access & restrictions
High resolution scans from the Posner Collection are available for print and electronic reproduction with the permission of Henry Posner III.
Gratitude
The processing of the Posner collection was partially facilitated by a $2500 grant from the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.
Henry Posner III Collection index
Extent
7,000 medium format and 35mm black-and-white negatives
23,000 35mm color slides
Arrangement
The collection is in its original order, arranged first by film format, then by country, and then chronologically.
Availability
The Posner collection has been selectively digitized with a portion available online in the Center’s digital collections.
