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If
Americans who perform good deeds create a “point of light,” the
Pamplin family represents a starburst.
The Pamplins rank among the nation’s wealthiest families, yet the distinction
Robert B. Pamplin, Sr. and Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. seek is to be the nation’s
most creative philanthropists - individuals who give their full potential in
money, time and talent. Their business success would imply they have the ability
to make that happen.

Dr.
Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. and
Robert B. Pamplin, Sr.
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Today,
the father-son duo run the R.B. Pamplin Corp., a Fortune 400 private
company. Among its holdings are 18 textile mills, operations in sand
and gravel mining, concrete and asphalt production, Christian bookstores,
a Christian recording label and a family-oriented video production
company. The R.B. Pamplin Corporation donates 10% of its pre-tax profits
- $6 million to $10 million each year - to nearly 200 charities and
causes nationwide.
Robert B. Pamplin, Sr. was born into a Dinwiddie County, Virginia, farming
family and went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute where he studied
business. He had a classmate who hailed from Augusta, Georgia where his family
had decided to start a lumber business. The new enterprise needed a trained
young business mind, and Robert Pamplin, Sr. was offered a position there.
Georgia Hardwood Lumber prospered and so did the elder Pamplin. The company
became Georgia-Pacific corporation and Robert Pamplin, Sr. rose to become CEO
of the giant corporation, eventually moving with the company to Portland, Oregon.
Retiring from Georgia-Pacific in 1976 at the age of 65, he began the R.B. Pamplin
Corporation with his son, Robert, Jr.
Raised in a Southern culture imbued with honor, loyalty and tradition, the
younger Pamplin is a self-proclaimed disciple of his father. The elder Pamplin
taught his son to ignore status and wealth, even as they accumulated it. He
also instilled in him a love of the business world, appearing in his son’s
bedroom with the Wall Street Journal and a copy of Standard and Poor’s
Stock Guide while most parents were reading bedtime stories to their children.
When the younger Pamplin was sick with hepatitis for a year at age 12, his
father read him annual reports.
Early lessons made the younger Pamplin a shrewd businessman. While still in
college, he invested money inherited from his grandmother in the stock market
and then invested his profits in Southern timber just before its value shot
up. Before he left college, Robert Pamplin, Jr. was already a millionaire.
Today, the younger Pamplin’s resume is nearly an inch thick and includes
pages of accomplishments and awards. He has authored 12 books, founded the
Christ Community Church, of which he is Senior Pastor, and holds eight degrees
including three bachelor’s of science, three master’s and two doctorates.
The Pamplin’s generosity has touched scores of families from coast to
coast. In Virginia, the Pamplin’s are the biggest benefactors of Robert
Pamplin, Sr.’s alma mater, Virginia Tech. They have given more than $28
million to the University, which named its business school after the family.
Additionally, every one of Virginia’s more than 300 public high schools
offers one senior a $1,000 Pamplin Scholarship to Virginia Tech each year.
The Pamplin’s love for education and history is evident in their creation
of Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier,
which is located only a few miles from the birthplace of Robert Pamplin, Sr.
In the early 1800’s, the Pamplin’s maternal ancestors, the Boisseau
family, settled in Dinwiddie County and grew prosperous. The family lived at “Tudor
Hall,” a 600-acre tobacco plantation which passed out of family hands
soon after the Civil War. When the Pamplin’s became aware of the impending
sale of the Tudor Hall tract in the early 1990’s, they saw an opportunity
to combine their devotion to history, education and their own forbearers to
create a national treasure dedicated to the study of the Civil War and the
common soldier of that conflict.

Dr.
Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. at the Grand Opening of the National
Museum of the Civil War Soldier
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Dr.
Robert Pamplin, Jr’s business and philanthropic endeavors have
been featured in the pages of Forbes Magazine. He gives generous sums
of money each year to his home town of Portland, Oregon, and funds
programs to feed the hungry. His benevolence also extends to the University
of Portland and to Lewis and Clark College, which he has helped turn
into a nationally-recognized institution. Dr. Pamplin has also funded
billboard campaigns in Portland that depict role-models in the African-American
community. He is also the largest contributor to the Oregon Symphony.
Four
days each week, Dr. Pamplin dons a dark business suit and white shirt
and goes to work at the R.B. Pamplin Corporation in an office next
to his father. On Friday mornings he heads west to Sherwood, Oregon,
and the place he loves best: Twelve Oaks Farm, the headquarters of
his Columbia Empire Farms, Oregon’s largest grower of berries
and hazlenuts. In 1998, Dr. Pamplin opened on the grounds of the farm
a small museum which houses a portion of his Asian and Native American
art collection.
Like Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, Dr. Pamplin has been tinkering and adding
to his farm complex. From a pool, tennis court and sports court to formal Italian,
Japanese and Northwest gardens, the farm is always developing. Here in the
rolling hills of the Northwest, Dr. Robert Pamplin, Jr. can be the gentleman
farmer of his native South.
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