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NEWSFEED
NEWSFEED JORDAN LED COMPANY, INDUSTRY, STATE
Robert Byrd (Bob) Jordan
III, who led Jordan Lumber & Supply Inc. into becoming one of the most progressive sawmill operations and one of the largest single-site lumber producers in North America, who was a 2007 Timber Processing Man of the Year, who served as Lieutenant Gov. of North Carolina from 1985 to 1988 and as state senator from 1977 to 1984, died Feb ruary 16 peacefully at home overlooking Lake Tillery in Mount Gilead, NC, surrounded by his loving family. He was 87.
The State of North Carolina flew its flags at half-mast for three days. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and former White House Chief of Staff during the Clinton Administration, Erskine Bowles, spoke at the Celebration of Life service held at the West Montgomery High School Auditorium in Mt. Gilead.
‘I know Dad wouldn’t have believed the turnout and would have been very humbled,” his son and the company’s CEO and President, Robert IV, comments. “It made me even more proud of him to see the tremendous number of lives he touch ed. He will be greatly missed.”
Bob Jordan served as CEO and President of Jordan Lumber & Supply, Inc. and its affiliates from the time he returned home from the armed services in 1956 until being succeeded by his son, Robert IV, this year.
Under Bob’s leadership, Jordan Lumber & Supply’s business imprint on its local community and industry has always read like an exemplary template of what every forest products company should strive to be: a growing, innovative business that views as matters of principle long-term viability and sustainability while providing good jobs and conserving raw materials.
Jordan Lumber operates a massive southern yellow pine manufacturing complex in Mt. Gilead, as well as a saw - mill in Barnesville, Ga., in addition to chip mills and other operations while owning a timberland base that has long been under best management practices. Bob Jordan always viewed his business as an integral part of the community and region and his em ployees as leading citizens.
“What you find out in life is the things that give you the most joy are what you do for other people,” he said upon being named Man of the Year in 2007 by Timber Processing. “That’s where the satisfaction comes from. You can always go somewhere else and make more money, but what we’ve done here is really plowed everything back in.”
His dad, R.B., started the business in 1939 with a concentration yard and a planer to complement his trucking business. Bob graduated from North Carolina State University in the School of Forestry in 1954 with emphasis on lumber manufacturing, was com missioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served in Europe in 1955-1956 before leaving the service as a Captain. By then the company had grown to 13 employees with a dry kiln and planer, taking production from contract peckerwood mills.
With the support of his wife, Sarah Cole Raeford, whom he married in 1958, Bob spiraled the company’s growth upward with a series of stepping stone moves and developments, culminating in the consolidation of operations at the current site in Mt. Gilead, including the construction of a sawmill in 1967. By then, Bob’s brother, Jack, who also graduated in forestry at NC State and completed his military obligation, returned to help lead the family lumber business.
Way before then, not long after joining the family business, Bob began public service as an appointee to the Mt. Gilead City Board, on which he served from 1957- 1968. He also chaired the first Montgomery County Planning Board and served with that group from 1964-1974. He had grown up around public service, with his dad serving as county commissioner for 24 years and as president of the North Carolina County Commissioners Assn. “Political people were constantly passing through the house; it was a way of life,” said Bob,
Bob Jordan was a “powerful, gentle public servant,” and a great lumberman. Left to right, Bob Jordan, his brother Jack and Bob’s son, Robert (2007)
a life-long Democrat.
After Bob stepped down from his county commissioner office, he was encouraged to run for the state senate in 1976, won the election and served four two-year terms until 1984, when he ran for and was elected lieutenant governor, serving a four-year term. The lieutenant governor’s job required him to live in Raleigh, which meant his brother Jack and son Robert, not long out of NC State himself, ran the lumber business.
“Back when I was politicking, one of the things people really heard was how I knew what it meant to make a payroll and sometimes to borrow money to make a payroll,” Jordan said.
One of his first moves as a state senator was to introduce legislation that placed a small fee on every ton of timber harvested in the state to be paid into a fund used to boost reforestation by aiding small landowners. He established the Commission on Jobs and Economic Growth and was instrumental in the establishment of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, which provides leadership in renewing and expanding rural North Carolina as well as providing job development and leadership training for citizens of rural communities. As a result, he advised presidents and governors on rural economic development. He promoted and led the passage of the Recreational National Heritage Trust Fund, which provides millions of dollars annually to purchase land for preservation. Jordan was the leader in the effort to establish the Technological Development Authority and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Jordan was always extensively involved with public and higher education in the state, and provided leadership for the establishment of the Basic Education Program, a
comprehensive plan to provide equal access to quality education for all of North Carolina’s children. He helped champion the nationally recognized Teaching Fellows program, an aggressive teacher recruitment program that provides scholarships for the best and the brightest high school students who are interested in becoming teachers. Jordan designed and successfully pushed the passage of a $3.2 billion school facilities act to expand school construction across the state.
He served on the UNCCharlotte Board of Trustees and the NC State University Board of Trustees and was its chair, and also chaired two NC State chancellor search committees. He received two of NC State’s highest honors: the Watauga Medal for service and the Menscer Cup for philanthropy. He and his siblings, and his son, all of whom graduated from NC State and have donated excessively to it, established the Jordan Family Graduate Fellowship in Natural Resource Innovation, and the Jordan Family Undergraduate Honors Program. Jordan Hall on the main campus is named in honor of the family.
Post graduate recognition included Honorary Doctor of Sciences from NC State University, Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Methodist College, and Honorary Doctor of Laws from UNCC.
Jordan campaigned for governor in 1988, won 80% of the primary vote to gain the Democratic Party candidacy, but ran into strong Republican momentum during the Reagan-to-Bush transition and lost by a modest margin.
After his political office career ended, Jordan returned full speed to the family lumber business. Jordan Lumber’s machinery and technology innovations, from primary breakdown systems to lumber drying to filing room techniques, have been well documented in Timber Processing for many years.
Jordan received the North Carolina Forestry Assn. Distinguished Service Award, and the Outstanding Forestry Leader Beal Award from the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Assn.
He was celebrated with the distinction of belonging to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, which is the highest award in NC for public service. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Mount Gilead, and supported his wife, Sarah, in her advocacy for the Meth - odist Home for Children. He became a member of
Black mere Lodge #127 in 1954, and was a member of the Oasis Shrine.
“Bob Jordan was accessible, with a ready smile, a love for the water whether sailing or boating, on the lake or the sea. And in the words of a close friend, ‘Everything Bob does, he does for his family,’” his obituary stated.
Jordan was preceded in death by his parents R. B. Jordan Jr. and Irene Pritchett Jordan. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sarah Cole Jordan; daughters Betsy Lynn Jordan and Janie Cole Jordan, son Robert Byrd Jordan IV, brother Jack Jordan and their large extended families.
Following the public memorial, a private graveside service was held at Sharon Cemetery in Mt. Gilead. In lieu of flowers, please submit memorials to any one of the following: NC Biotechnology Center, 15 TW Alexander Dr, Durham, NC 27709; NC Ru ral Economic Development Center, 4021 Cary Dr, Ra leigh, NC 27610; UNCG Teaching Fellows, Office of Student Services and Advisors School of Education Building, Room 142, 1300 Spring Garden St. Greensboro, NC 27402-6170; Methodist Home for Children, 1041 Washington St, Raleigh, NC 27605. TP
