Not much is known (outside of theories associated with the Wold Newton concept) about the elder Savage, save for the fact that his wife died shortly after childbirth and that he had considerable wealth at his disposal. It is with this wealth, along with teams of experts helping him, that Savage Sr. raised his son (Clark Savage Jr.) to become the “Ultimate Human” through rigorous training and discipline. All of this for the seeming goal of creating for the world a Champion of Justice, to right wrongs and thwart evil.
Whatever plans he really had for his son will probably never be known, since he’s murdered in the very first Doc Savage story (and other subsequent adaptations of the property).
First Wave Universe
In the First Wave Universe, it seems the elder Savage had a hand in creating the Golden Tree group, funding it and everything. Unfortunately he was murdered by the man known as John Sunlight, a fellow member.