In 1901 he worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal where he became railroad editor, then moving on to become the financial editor of the monthly journal World's Work.
He went to work for the Wall Street Journal, first as a reporter (1901-1903), then as railroad editor (1903-1905) before becoming financial editor for World's Work (1905-1911). In 1911 he founded C. M. Keys & Co.which soon afterward became an investment banking house.
In 1916 he came to the aid of the financially troubled Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. and was made an unpaid vice president. Keys accompanied the American Aviation Mission to Europe in 1919, returning to purchase a controlling interest in Curtiss in 1920.
The company merged with Wright Aeronautical in 1929 to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation and he was the new company's president.
In June of 1929, Keys personally bought all shares of Pitcairn Aviation for 2.5 million dollars and resold them two weeks later to North American Aviation, which was renamed to Eastern Air Transport, and finally Eastern Airlines.
At the same time, Keys expanded his own holdings until he was at the head of twenty-six corporations, including aviation holdings companies, such as North American Aviation and National Aviation Corp., as well as the first American transcontinental air service, Transcontinental Air Transport (later Transcontinental & Western Airline).
In January 1932, Keys withdrew from all his aviation interests, citing ill health. In 1942 he went back to the aviation business establishing the C.M. Keys Aircraft Service Company and after WWII helped organize the Peruvian International Airways in 1947. He was also chairman of the board of the Mackenzie Muffler Company of Youngstown, Ohio, and a subsidiary, the Buffalo Pressed Steel Company.
Clement Melville Keys - Financier and corporate organizer
