Jacques Littlefield
Jacques Littlefield (November 21, 1949 – January 7, 2009) was the founder of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF), also called the Littlefield Collection.
Jacques Littlefield | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 21, 1949 |
| Died | January 7, 2009 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Military Vehicle Collector, philanthropist, engineer |
| Spouse(s) | Sandy Montenegro Littlefield |
Collection
Jacques Littlefield collected many vintage military vehicles including a Panther tank, several M4 Sherman tanks and an SS-1 Scud launcher. He had over 220 military vehicles to his name.
Biography
Littlefield was born on November 21, 1949 in San Francisco, California. He was the son of Edmund Wattis Littlefield and Jeannik Méquet Littlefield. His father was CEO of Utah Construction Company, his mother is a strong supporter of the arts and a member of the Chairman's Council of the San Francisco Opera.[1]
Littlefield's fascination with military vehicles started as a child, when he started building plastic models of them. In college he built his first remote control scale model tank. He obtained his first full size military vehicle in 1975; a World War II era M3 Scout Car. In 1998 he set up the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation to manage his collection of over 150 vehicles and to restore more.
He grew up in Burlingame and attended Norma Moore Grade School in Burlingame, the Carey School in San Mateo, and the Cate School in Carpinteria before studying at Stanford University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1971 and an MBA two years later. He worked for Hewlett Packard for five years as a manufacturing engineer before focusing solely on building his museum and restoration facility.
Littlefield served on the boards of the General George Patton Museum, the Cate School, the Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education, the Hoover Institution, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Filoli Center. He was a member of the Bohemian Club where he was a Captain of the Sempervirens camp.[2]
Following a decade long battle with colon cancer, Littlefield died on January 7, 2009. He is survived by his wife, Sandy Montenegro Littlefield.
On July 11 and 12th 2014, 160 vehicles of the Littlefield Collection were auctioned off to fund creation of a new museum to display the collection.[3] The American Heritage Museum at the Collings Foundation headquarters in Stow, Massachusetts had its grand opening in May, 2019 and displays over 85 vehicles of the Littlefield Collection.[4]
References
- Kosman, Joshua (October 4, 2006). "S.F. Opera patron donates $35 million / Largest gift of its kind in the U.S. -- no strings attached". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- "Military tank collector dies at 59". almanacnews.com. The Almanac. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- Rong, Blake (February 28, 2014). "Tank auction! Littlefield military vehicle collection to cross the block". Autoweek. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- Jonathan Phelps (2 May 2019). "American Heritage Museum celebrates grand opening". Worcester Telegram. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- Brown, Patricia Leigh (November 28, 2003). "DRIVING; To the Collector, The Spoils". New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
- Goldman, Jim (January 13, 2009). "Tanks for the Memories: Jacques Littlefield Passes Away". Tech News, CNBC. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- Jones, Carolyn (January 13, 2009). "Jacques Littlefield, tank collector, dies". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. B-5. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
- Miller, Stephen (February 7, 2009). "Jacques Littlefield, 1949-2009: For Big Collector of Tanks, Panzer Was Last Hurrah". Wall Street Journal. p. A8. Retrieved May 5, 2009.