Timothy Mellon is chairman and majority owner of Pan Am Systems

Pan Am Systems

Pan Am Systems is a privately held company that controls the following divisions: rail transport; manufacturing and energy; transportation related brands; real estate; and a now-defunct airline division. The company is headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.-History:Guilford Transportation...

, a transportation holding company.

The son of Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...

 and his first wife, Mary Conover Brown, Timothy Mellon holds a degree in city planning from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. He was the chief financier in the 1977 formation of Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI), a holding company named for his native Guilford, Connecticut

Guilford, Connecticut

Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Branford, North Branford and Durham, and is situated on I-95 and the coast. The population was 21,398 at the 2000 census...

.

In 1981, GTI purchased the Maine Central Railroad

Maine Central Railroad

The Maine Central Railroad Company was a railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. It operated a mainline between South Portland, Maine, east to the Canada-U.S...

 from U.S. Filter Corporation, adding the Boston & Maine and Delaware & Hudson

Delaware and Hudson Railway

The Delaware and Hudson Railway is a railroad that operates in the northeastern United States. Since 1991 it has been a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, although CPR has assumed all operations and the D&H does not maintain any locomotives or rolling stock.It was formerly an important...

 railroads in 1983 and 1984, respectively, and in 1998 purchased the brand of bankrupt Pan American World Airways

Pan American World Airways

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...

. The Pan Am name was subsequently succeeded by "Pan Am Clipper Connection," operated by subsidiary Boston-Maine Airways

Boston-Maine Airways

Boston-Maine Airways was an American airline headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. It operated scheduled commuter services under the Pan Am Clipper Connection banner. Its main base was Pease International Airport, Portsmouth...

, which ceased operations in 2008 due to lack of financial fitness.

Mellon stepped down as trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...

 in 2002 after 21 years on its board.

Mellon, reportedly a resident of Laramie, Wyoming

Laramie, Wyoming

Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....

, donated $1.5 million to Arizona's defense fund to help cover the costs of legal challenges against Arizona SB 1070.