Textile baron remembered
SPARTANBURG — Roger Milliken, the international textile baron, was remembered Monday as a nature lover who knelt in the woods to search for clues about the age of a young tree and a grandfather who challenged his family to a spirited game of backgammon on his 95th birthday, his last.
He awoke every day 'ready and excited' to greet the world, his daughter, Jan, told hundreds of friends and family members gathered for a memorial service in Spartanburg, the Greenville News reported.
He was competitive, yet compassionate, she recalled, telling an overflow crowd at The Episcopal Church of the Advent that he would spot her 15 points in a 21-point game of table tennis but hug her tenderly as she boarded a train for boarding school.
He was an 'extraordinary man,' his daughter said.
Milliken, who profoundly shaped South Carolina's politics, economy and education, died Thursday. He was laid to rest Sunday at Floyd's Greenlawn Cemetery in Spartanburg in a private family service.
His family's company, Milliken & Co., was founded in 1865 and Milliken was the third-generation leader who made it one of the nation's largest private corporations.
Family members, political and business leaders and friends said a public good-bye to Milliken on Monday. They remembered the tall billionaire with a shock of white hair who was an intense and visionary businessman, a crusader for American jobs, a skier, a landscape architect, a godfather of the state's Republican Party and a force behind presidential campaigns, Upstate colleges and the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.
Business and political leaders said Milliken's contributions to South Carolina can't be underestimated, and never should be forgotten.
'He was a man of remarkable energy who had a passion for life that, I think, was unparalleled and inspiration for young and old alike,' said Gov Mark Sanford.
David Wilkins, former South Carolina House Speaker and U.S. ambassador to Canada, said Milliken was 'an icon, a visionary in South Carolina and probably the most engaging South Carolinian that most of us will ever know.'
Bobby Hitt, Gov.-Elect Nikki Haley's nominee to be state Commerce Secretary, said Milliken, as chairman of the GSP Airport Commission, was very involved in the early days of establishing BMW's only North American manufacturing facility in Greer, near the airport.
'He was a remarkable man,' said Hitt, manager of corporate affairs for BMW Manufacturing. 'He was a remarkable ally and could be a remarkable adversary. He was a very smart guy.'
A family spokesman, Richard Dillard, said Milliken & Co. will remain privately held, with a board of directors that answers to a group of family shareholders.
