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Atlanta, GA | Posted: November 28, 2016
Kelly B. Smith, 404.894.6700
Summary Sentence:
Robert C. Williams remembered as a visionary
Full Summary:
No summary paragraph submitted.
Robert C. WilliamsRobert C. Williams, co-founder of James River Corporation and an icon of the paper industry, died recently at age 86 in Richmond, Va. Williams was a visionary in the pulp and paper sector who also held a deep desire for the preservation of the history and importance of papermaking for generations to come.
Williams retired from James River in 1996 after more than twenty-five years with the company, the last four as Chairman, President and CEO. Upon his retirement, the Board of Directors funded an endowment to support the Museum of Papermaking, which now bears his name. The museum is an internationally renowned resource on the history of paper and paper technology. The museum is located in the Paper Tricentennial Building, home to the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) on Georgia Tech’s campus.
Among his many honors, in 1985, Williams received the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA) Man of the Year Award and in 1988 was named a TAPPI Fellow. He was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in 1998 and received an honorary doctorate from the Institute of Paper Science & Technology (IPST) in 2001.
“Bob will be long remembered as a major IPC (Institute of Paper Chemistry) and IPST supporter, industry leader, honorary doctorate recipient and namesake of the papermaking museum,” said Dr. Norman Marsolan, RBI executive director. Marsolan recounted Williams’ influence on the leadership component of the recently developed Georgia Tech master’s in manufacturing leadership. “Bob gave us unique insight into the areas of focus a leadership degree program should contain. He made important contributions to the design of the academic program.”
Dr. Jim Ferris, former president of IPST, the IPC Foudation and former Vice President – R&D of Weyerhaeuser Company, said Williams had a significant impact on the industry, and upon countless individuals, including himself. “Bob was a humble visionary and his career path from chemist at Albemarle to CEO of James River was extraordinary. His support and connection to IPC/IPST never wavered and he was a great help to me personally.”
In presenting Williams with the honorary degree, Ferris said: “Throughout his career, he has inspired and coached young people to excel in their education and business endeavors.”
Williams was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1930. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1953 and received a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University in 1957. He also attended the University of Richmond, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Harvard Business School. In 1955-56, he was a student at the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) in Appleton, Wisc.
Following his graduation from the University of Cincinnati in 1953, he went to work for Diamond International Corporation, then Albemarle Paper Company in 1959. He was later promoted to vice president of research and development, planning, budgeting and industrial engineering.
In the early 1970s, he joined with another IPC alumnus, Brenton S. Halsey, to form the James River Corporation, which was soon recognized throughout the industry for innovation and rapid growth. The creative use of leveraged financing was the basis for more than 50 acquisitions that drove James River’s phenomenal growth to become one of the largest paper companies in the world. The two partners were the first in the industry to aggressively grow their company through multiple and frequent mergers and acquisitions.
"Bob was a very creative individual, always full of new ideas,” said Halsey. “We were known in the industry for doing things a little differently.”
Their business instincts and “organizational reengineering” techniques led to continued growth at James River. The two leaders felt strongly that all employees should have an opportunity to benefit from the company’s success, and that a feeling of ownership could be used as a strong motivator for employees. They implemented a stock purchase plan for all employees with a healthy company matching contribution. The stock option program was extended to levels of management never before considered. Although such programs came to be widely practiced, they were creative and rare at the time.
The James River Corporation merged with Fort Howard to become Fort James Corporation in 1997. In November of 2005, Fort James Corporation was acquired by Georgia-Pacific.
Williams is survived by his wife, Barbara D. Williams; a son, Robert C. Williams III; and a “second daughter,” Donnie Walker.
