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Engaging North Carolina

Haywood County

Quick Facts

Students: 72
Applicants: 49
Alumni: 447
Park Scholars: 1
Goodnight Scholars: 3
Caldwell Fellows: 0

Pride of the Pack

A Life of Leadership and Service

Reuben Buck Robertson, forester and industrialist, was an Ohio native and Yale graduate who came to Haywood County in 1907 to supervise construction of the Champion Coated Paper Company’s pulp mill in Canton. Robertson’s stay, initially intended to last fifty days, became permanently extended through the rest of a long life in the pulp industry and public service.

As Robertson rose through the ranks at Champion from mill general manager to president and then chairman of the board, he helped to lead industry-changing technical innovations that allowed Champion to become the first pulp mill in the world to make high-quality white paper from spent wood. He also was an early voice within the pulp industry to advocate for treating timber as a renewable resource that required selective cutting, reforestation, and flood and fire prevention.

Robertson chaired the Wood Utilization Committee for the U.S. Department of Commerce and sat on the National War Labor Board during World War II, and he was a trustee of Western Carolina Teachers College and the University of North Carolina. He garnered many awards and honors for service to the industry and the public, including an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State College (now NC State University), the Distinguished Service Award from the American Forestry Association, and the Distinguished Citizens Award from the North Carolina Citizens Association. [Read More.]

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