Spencer T. Olin; Munitions Firm Executive

Spencer T. Olin, 96, former executive of munitions maker Olin Corp. and leading Republican Party supporter. He was vice president of Olin Corp. when its Winchester Repeating Arms subsidiary turned out 15 billion rounds of ammunition for the Allies during World War II. Olin’s father, Franklin, founded Olin Industries in 1892. The younger Olin raised millions for the 1952 presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower and was national finance chairman for the Republican Party from 1958 to 1960 and treasurer of the National Republican Committee from 1960 to 1962. A low-handicap amateur golfer, Olin managed to gain a footnote in professional athletic history when, in 1954, he and a struggling Arnold Palmer won a pro-am tournament at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. The $750 prize money meant a lot to Palmer, and the win meant even more when he learned that Olin had bet $10,000 on his own team and was splitting his winnings with his teammate. Years later, when Olin gave $5 million to build a public course for his hometown, Palmer agreed to design it. On April 14 on Hobe Sound, Fla.