David Crumley Bevan (1906-1996) was the chief financial officer of the Penn Central Transportation Company during its financial collapse in the early 1970s, the result of a poorly planned merger between the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the New York Central Railroad Company in 1968. He was born on August 5, 1906, in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1931 and worked for several banking and insurance companies before joining the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1951. He died at the age of 89 in 1996.

Bevan was the chief financial officer of Penn Central Transportation Company during its collapse and bankruptcy in 1970. He began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1951 and opposed the merger that would ultimately lead to, at the time, the largest bankruptcy in American history, and several lawsuits against both the railroad and Bevan personally. When he was blamed for financial mismanagement in 1970, Bevan was forced to step down. He spent the next decade defending himself in lawsuits both federal and civil while trying to clear his name.

In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company merged with New York Central as a solution to America’s growing transportation problems. The decision was inspired by John F. Kennedy’s (1917-1963) congressional address in 1962 urging railroads to merge to overcome the “pressing problems burdening our national transportation system.” The growing popularity of automobiles, buses, and air travel led to decreases in railroad travel, the income of which railroads in the eastern US depended on to also meet freight transport demands.

In 1970 Penn Central filed for bankruptcy and unsuccessfully attempted to reorganize within the private sector. Given the significant impact this had on America’s transportation system, the government intervened, and Congress nationalized Penn Central under the terms of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 in order to contribute government funds to stabilizing the company.

Following bankruptcy, Penn Central was put under investigation by several government organizations and committees for its purported unlawful investment in Executive Jet Aviation Company. This included the Securities and Exchange Commission, Interstate Commerce Commission, and other United States congressional committees.

Penn Central and Bevan also received class action lawsuits from company shareholders, which resulted in the landmark case, Penn Central Securities Litigation MDL-56, a grouping of eighty class action civil suits. Other litigation cases included a criminal suit filed by the state of Pennsylvania and the closely related case USA v. Joseph H. Rosenbaum which dealt with questionable investments in German banks.

Several publications have since recorded the history of Penn Central’s bankruptcy and Bevan’s involvement. The Wreck of the Penn Central by Joseph R. Daughen (1935-2021) and Peter Binzen (1922-2016) was published in 1971 at the height of investigations, with a critical view of Bevan. In 1982, history professor Stephen Salsbury (1931- ) published No Way to Run a Railroad which Bevan’s brother, Thomas Bevan (1915-2006), says was an attempted vindication. Bevan wrote an autobiographical manuscript explaining his role as a scapegoat for Penn Central’s leadership during the company’s collapse. Although there is correspondence discussing publication, it seems that this manuscript was left unpublished.