Eric Ragnar Benson (born July 29, 1899 in Virestad, Älmhult, Sweden, died March 10, 1979, in Chicago) was a Swedish-American building contractor in Chicago whose firm was one of the ten largest in the United States and employed thousands. He arrived without means in the United States at age 11, became a stonemason and bricklayer, created Ragnar Benson Inc. in 1922 and by 1969 was given the Horatio Alger Award. His firm worked for many major U. S. companies and created the famous towers at Three Mile Island. Ragnar Benson Inc. had built Chicago structures including the CNA Building and Harbor Point Towers and had performed maintenance work on city buildings including Tribune Tower and the Wrigley Building. Benson was widely known for philanthropic generosity which at times was considered ec