Tupper Smyth Malone (1872-1935)

From the Marin County Tocsin, October 22, 1910.

  San Rafael, California resident Tupper Smyth Malone was a transplant to that city from Arkansas, and following his settlement established himself as a pharmacist, a vocation that he continued to follow for a number of years. Active in Democratic politics in the city, Malone would win election to the city board of education and reached his highest degree of political notoriety in 1910 when he was nominated for California state treasurer. Born in Arkansas on January 26, 1872, Tupper Smyth Malone was the son of Spaulding and Theresa (Smyth) Malone. 

  Malone's early life largely remains a mystery, with no information available on his education or formative years. In the mid-1890s he was a partner in the jewelry firm of M.C. and Tup Malone in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and later decided to remove west, and after settling in San Rafael would become manager and owner of the San Rafael Pharmacy. Malone later returned to Arkansas in February 1897 to marry Lenora Adella Sullivan (1873-1966) in the town of Waldron. In the weeks following their wedding, the couple undertook an "extended tour" of St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Sacramento before settling in San Rafael. The couple's near forty-year marriage would see the births of at least three children, Camilla, George, and James. 

  After establishing roots in San Rafael, Tupper Malone built up a prosperous pharmacy, and by 1908 owned three additional drug stores in California, located in Larkspur, San Anselmo, and Mill Valley. Additional financial success came Malone's way when he became an organizer and stockholder in the Portuguese-American Bank in San Francisco, his full dates of service with that bank being unknown at this time. Malone's business savvy saw he and his family residing in a palatial home on Palm Avenue in San Rafael, which is pictured below.

From the Overland Monthly, Vol. 38, 1900.

  Tupper S. Malone first entered San Rafael politics in 1899 when he was an unsuccessful candidate for city treasurer. A candidacy for supervisor for San Rafael's 1st district followed in 1906, and around 1900 was elected to the city board of education for the first of several terms. His time on that board saw him chair the building committee, "which remodeled the old and built several new schools, getting good sites and buildings, and using home architects and builders to do the work." 

  In June 1910 Tupper Malone entered into the Democratic race for State Treasurer of California and in August of that year won the Democratic primary. In the latter part of that year, he took to the campaign trail and would "tour the northern counties" promoting his candidacy, as well as that of gubernatorial candidate Theodore Bell. Through the 1910 election year, Malone's candidacy was touted in several California newspapers, including the Marin County Tocsin, which remarked that:

"Mr. Malone is one of our most substantial citizens and has been a resident of this city and county for many years. At present he is one of our capable school directors. For many years he was the proprietor of the San Rafael pharmacy. During all of his residency here he has made many friends and has won for himself the reputation as a fair-dealing, efficient, painstaking businessman and a faithful public servant."

  Malone's Republican opponent that year was incumbent treasurer William A. Williams, who had taken office in 1907. On election day in November it was Williams who was victorious, and in an electoral shellacking trounced Malone, 204,922 votes to 103, 426. In the years following his defeat Malone continued work as a druggist, operating the Blackburn Pharmacy in Petaluma, and in 1914 is recorded as being the manager of the Cooks' Water Company. He later moved his pharmacy to Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in 1921, but remained there only a year, removing his store to Bell, a suburb of Los Angeles in 1922. 
   The final years of Malone's life saw he and his wife residing in Bell and in the 1927 primary election year was an unsuccessful aspirant for the Los Angeles City Council. In the year prior to his death, Malone again was a candidate for state treasurer but failed to get his candidacy to extend past the August Democratic primary. Tupper S. Malone died on January 17, 1935, shortly before his 63rd birthday. His wife Lenora survived her husband by over thirty years, and following her death at age 93 in 1966 was interred alongside her husband at the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Los Angeles.