Theodore Gary & Company was a 20th century independent telephone firm in the United States. Among its subsidiaries was the Associated Telephone and Telegraph Company, which controlled telephone companies in Latin America and telephone manufacturing interests in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. In that capacity, Associated, formed in 1925, was the only other serious U.S. rival of International Telephone and Telegraph in Europe before World War II. Associated also exercised influence over the telephone networks in the Dominican Republic and Columbia. In 1930 it formed a new subsidiary, the General Telephone Corporation, with Transamerica Corporation

Transamerica Corporation

Transamerica Corporation is a holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms doing business primarily in the United States. It was acquired by the Dutch financial services conglomerate AEGON in 1999.-History:...

 and British investors, to strengthen overseas manufacturing and operations in competition with ITT

ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...

. This was headed by Theodore Gary's son, Hunter Larrabee Gary. It would ultimately merge into GTE

GTE

GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System....

in 1955.