A Tribute to B. B. Olive

A Tribute to B. B. Olive November 6, 1921 - December 4, 2014 Triangle Land Conservancy Co-Founder and Board Member

June 5, 1988 Written and read at the 5th Annual Meeting: In January of 1983, Logan Irvin hosted a small dinner meeting at the Carolina Inn for B. B. Olive. There was one item on the agenda: to tell B. B. Olive about the basic concept and goals of a new emerging regional organization; and most important, to invite him to be a member of the Board of Directors.

B. B. Olive’s name was well known by many members of the “land trust” task force of Triangle J COB. He was known as one who was deeply concerned about the haphazard growth of the area and the need for conservation, environmental sensitivity, and understanding of the future and a belief that concerted, wise group action can make a difference. Logan Irvin wanted very much to convince B. B. Olive to become a member of the Board. At the end of the dinner and conservation, B. B. Olive said, “yes.”

Then, on February 23, 1983, Gerald Whitehurst, chairman of the Board of Delegates of Triangle J COG signed a resolution, passed that evening by the full Board of Delegates, appointing the first Board of Directors of the Triangle Land Conservancy. B. B. Olive was one of the Board members on that Charter list of Directors.

This was followed by the first meeting of the new Directors - to begin the monumental task of developing a new regional conservation organization.

The next meeting was March 23, 1983 - with one major task - to elect new officers for the Board. B. B. Olive was elected secretary. And his work immediately began: to record the many beginning actions - so vitally important in later stages of organizational development and operation. This he did with conscientious attention to significant details (so important to a legally trained mind) and for a responsible non-profit conservation organization.

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In September of 1983, the first Treasurer of TLC had to resign. B. B. Olive agreed to take on that responsibility in addition to his regular office of secretary.

As TLC began to grow, he felt the Secretary-Treasurer position should again be split into two separate offices.

At the annual meeting in May of 1985, a new Treasurer was elected and B. B. Olive again returned to “just being” Secretary, (as well as Assistant Treasurer).

He continued this office through fiscal years ‘85-86, ‘8687, and ‘87-88.

In addition to his work as Secretary and member of the Board of Directors, he also served on the important TLC project - the Durham County Inventory of Natural and Cultural Resources. This project has been going for about 3 years.

B. B. Olive is leaving the Board of TLC and his office of Secretary. At this point let me urge the Directors, members and friends of TLC to present Mr. B. B. Olive with a most generous and sincere “thank you” and a deep sense of appreciation for his important contribution to the history and development of this organization.

In addition to a resolution of appreciation and thank you for his work, I respectfully request the entire above statement be spread on the Minutes of this Fifth Annual Meeting of the Triangle Land Conservancy.

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A biography of B. B. Olive from the TLC archives, revised October 13, 1994: B. B. Olive was born in 1921 in Fuquay Springs, North Carolina, now known as Fuquay-Varina. He attended Duke University school of Engineering beginning in 1939. His undergraduate schooling was interrupted by World War II; he served in Europe with the 95th Infantry Division of the United States Army, and received the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and three battle citations. Following his discharge from an Army hospital in 1945, he returned to Duke and graduated from the School of Engineering in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. While a student at Duke, he served as Freshman Advisor; President of the Student Branch of A.I.E.E.; Managing Editor of the Duke Engineer; and was elected to Tau Beta Pi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon, and the Order of St. Patrick honorary scholastic and leadership societies.

Following his graduation from Duke University, Mr. Olive joined Westinghouse Electric Company and subsequently Westinghouse Electric International Company in New York City. Among other positions, he served as Assistant to the Supervisor of Licensing for Western Europe and also assisted in licensing technology to Far East, European and South American companies. Simultaneously, he enrolled in the Evening School of Law at St.. John’s University. He graduated from St. John’s University with a Bachelor of Law Degree in January, 195, passed the New York State Bar examination and has since been awarded the J.D. degree by St. John’s University.

In 1954, Mr. Olive joined Fieldcrest Mills, Inc., as director of patent and licensing operations.. He was admitted to practice before the United States Patent Office in October, 1955 and passed the North Carolina Bar examination in 1956.

Prior to starting his own law practice, Mr. Olive served as a law clerk in the office of his father, B. Ray Olive, an attorney, now deceased, and graduate of Wake Forest Law School. In September of 1957, Mr. Olive established his own private law practice in Durham, North Carolina, in the field of patent, trademark and copyright law. That intellectual property law practice is continued today as the firm of Olive & Olive, P.A. in which Mr. Olive specialized in matters related to a wide range of advanced technology. The firm services various size industrial and institutional clients both in North Carolina and elsewhere in the United States and many foreign countries.

Mr. Olive was married in 1950 to the former Denyse L. Edwards of London, England and a graduate of the London School of Economics. From this union, three children, Susan, Jennifer and Bruce were born. Mrs. Denyse Olive died in 1968 and in 1971, Mr. Olive married the former Helen Eve C. Evans, an architectural graduate of the University of Ntal, Durban, South Africa and who taught eurythmy, a form of movement.

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From 1957 to 1973, Mr. Olive served as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering and Proprietary Law both at Duke University and at North Carolina State University.

He also taught courses and lectured in the fields of legal aspects of engineering and proprietary law.

Mr. Olive’s outside activities were many. As an alumnus of Duke University, he served as Duke Loyalty Fund Representative in New York City; Class Treasurer and Class Representative; Chairman of the Duke University Alumni Publications Committee; President, Secretary and Treasurer of the Duke Engineering Alumni Association; member of the Duke Engineering Council and on the Committee for Bequests and Trusts for Duke University. In June 1970, he was awarded the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award by the Duke School of Engineering. In 1977, he counselled Duke University in formulating a patent and technology transfer policy and through the firm of Olive & Olive, P.A. continues a technology transfer and licensing practice with a variety of industrial and academic clients. He served on the Duke-Durham Alumni Advisory Council.

In the church, he served as a member of the Vestry and Treasurer of the Church of the Epiphany in Eden, North Carolina; and as a member and Secretary of the Vestry of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Durham, North Carolina.

During 1967, a controversy arose within the North Carolina Bar Association regarding admission of black attorneys to the Association. Mr. Olive was actively involved in seeking such admission and helped bring about a change of Association policy to permit such admission.

In law-related areas, he organized and served as Chairman of the North Carolina Bar Association Committee on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights; is a past member of the American Patent Law Association Committee on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights; was an organizer and has served several terms on the Board of Managers of the Carolina Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Association. For this Association, he organized and for several years served as Chairman of the Julian E. Carnes Scholarship Fund which in 1993 made its first scholarship awards. He has served as a member of the American Judicature Society. He has been active in preparation and presentation of proposed legislation, including legislation which led to present North Carolina trademark and trade secrets laws and to legislation aimed at preserving streams and rivers for research purposes. He lectured in Puerto Rico and sought to stimulate industrial support of academic research in Puerto Rico and an exchange of artistic talent between Puerto Rico and North Carolina.

In community and business activities, he served as Chairman of the Durham Chamber of Commerce committee on Local Industry; and is a past member of the Durham

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Engineers’ Club. Mr. Olive served as business advisor to several corporations. He served on the Board of Directors of the former Center for New Business Executives, an organization dedicated to assisting small businesses, and was a founding Director and former member of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He was a member of the Venture Capital and Quality Growth Committees of the Durham Chamber of Commerce and worked with the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science and Durham’s Chamber of Commerce to help establish both a scientific and medically-based museum in Durham. By joint appointment of the Mayor of the Town of Chapel Hill and the Chairperson of the Orange County Board of Commissioners he served as Chairman of Orange County, North Carolina’s Coordinating Committee on Interstate 40 in Orange County, including representation of the County at related hearings, and served by similar appointment in other matters relating to establishment of State parks and highway corridors in Orange County.

He served as Treasurer, Secretary, and as a member of the board of Triangle Land Conservancy, a land trust aimed at preserving land in the rapidly growing research Triangle area of North Carolina. He also helped organize and served on the Board of the Durham Inventory of Natural Resources. In 1988, Mr. Olive was honored as a founding Board member and for services to Triangle Land Conservancy. He had a long-standing interest in history and was a member of the Board and Chairman of the By-Laws Study Committee of the Historic Preservation Society of Durham.

He organized family reunions of the Olive family of Wake County origin and of the Wilkins family of Orange County origin and authored and published a booklet on the Wilkins family. He also served as a member of an advisory committee sponsored by the Law School of the University of North Carolina aimed at preserving oral histories of those associated with the law profession.

Mr. Olive initiated and helped organize the first regional meeting of the Wake, Durham and Orange County Bar Associations in October 1993 as the Tri-County Bar. He served as a member of the Council and Program Chairman of the Senior Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association. In 1993-1994, he acted as Co-Chair of the Legal/University Subcommittee, and as a member of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center Advisory Committee on Technology Transfer. He was a member of the Continuing Legal Education, Publication and Long Range Strategy committees of the North Carolina Bar Association. He initiated in 1993 a pilot program at the School of Engineering of Duke University aimed at establishing an organization through which alumni of the School of Engineering would be able to assist the School in its technology transfer program. In early 1994, he initiated a program under which local universities display the results of academic technology of potential commercial importance at trade shows sponsored by the Durham Chamber of Commerce.

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In September 1980, Mr. Olive was a recipient of the North Carolina Governor’s Volunteer Award and was recognized by Governor Hunt for exemplary community involvement and outstanding accomplishments.

Mr. Olive was a prolific writer of Letters-to-the-Editor on matters of public interest.

Mr. Olive served as a member of the Board of Foundation America and its North Carolina chapter both of which organizations serve to perpetuate knowledge of the United States Constitution and Founding documents. Mr. Olive also served as a member of the Board of the National Center for America’s Founding Documents, an academic research organization based at Boston University.

Mr. Olive was admitted to the New York Bar in June 1953, to the North Carolina Bar in 1956, and to practice before various federal district courts, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as both lead and associate trial counsel in various patent infringement, patent contract, and related litigation in various federal and state courts of original and appellate jurisdiction. One such lawsuit, where he acted as defense counsel, resulted not only in victory for the client but also in a basic revision in North Carolina’s handling of publicly funded inventions. He also acted as an expert witness in various patent trials with relation to Patent Office practices and interpretation of patent procedures. Since 1955 (and up to October 1994), Mr. Olive had obtained approximately 1,000 United States patents and numerous foreign patents for corporate and private clients.

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Letters of gratitude to B. B. Olive from the TLC archives:

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For more information about B. B. Olive: Olive & Olive, P.A.

www.oliveandolive.com/b-b-olive.html

Billy “B. B.� Olive Obituary

www.lowefuneralhome.com/obituary/Billy-B.B-Brown-Olive/Durham-NC/1458282

Billy Brown Olive Papers, 1950-2001, The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library of UNC Libraries www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/o/Olive,Billy_Brown.html Find this document online at triangleland.org/bbolive