Pamplin Family Donates $6.5 Million

Late last summer, after enduring a barrage of negative press about a $10.5-million loan in default, members of the Lewis & Clark community were in need of some good news. They got it on July 24. A sampling of the day’s headlines tells the story:

• “L&C gets help from Pamplins”
  (Lake Oswego Review)
• “College’s loss on loan will be erased by gifts”
  (The Oregonian)
• “Lewis & Clark’s future gets rosier”
  (The Portland Tribune)

The Pamplin family, under the leadership of Robert B. Pamplin Sr. and Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. ’64, ’65, ’66, donated $6.5 million to the College’s operating reserves, specifically to aid the College in its recovery effort. The gift is one of the largest ever given to a private school in Oregon history.

“Lewis & Clark was facing a period of questioning, and this gift was an opportunity to settle that questioning,” says the younger Pamplin, speaking on behalf of the family. “We wanted to restore the public’s trust in a fine educational institution and provide confidence and stability to faculty, students, staff, and alumni.”

The Pamplins think of their donation as “an inspirational gift.” Their expectation—indeed, the stated commitment they’ve received—is that the Board of Trustees will raise the balance of the funds necessary to replace the College loss from the Environ-mental Oil Processing Technology Corporation (EVOP) loan.

“With the generous gift of the Pamplins, gifts from other board members and supporters of the College, and proceeds from the sale of EVOP’s assets and other recoveries, the entire $10.5-million loan, which EVOP defaulted on, will be replaced,” says Fred Fields, chair of the Board of Trustees.

The gift is also of strategic importance. By establishing a board-initiated campaign to cover the loan, the Pamplins help the College avoid expensive and protracted litigation to recover funds.

Who are the men who spearheaded this extraordinary gift?

The Pamplin name is well known in Portland. In the mid-1970s, after a long and successful career as president and chairman of the board of Georgia-Pacific, the elder Pamplin and his son, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr., built the R.B. Pamplin Corporation, a holding company for Ross Island Sand and Gravel in Portland, and Mount Vernon Mills in Greenville, South Carolina. The operations of R.B. Pamplin Corporation include concrete, sand, and gravel mining; asphalt paving; and textile manufacturing. Robert B. Pamplin Sr. is chairman of the board; Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. is president and chief executive officer. In addition to his work at the company, the younger Pamplin is an ordained pastor, author, and owner of the Portland Tribune newspaper and KPAM radio.

But perhaps the Pamplins are even better known in the Lewis & Clark community—particularly among those who have had a long-term association with the College. The elder Pamplin first became involved with the College in the 1950s, and later served as board chair for long periods in the 1960s and 1970s. The younger Pamplin attended the College in the 1960s and eventually joined the board and served as chair for the first half of the 1990s. He was chair during the Campaign for Lewis & Clark, a highly successful capital campaign that raised more than $75 million for Lewis & Clark.

The Pamplin family name is intertwined with the life of the College. Members of the campus community work out in Pamplin Sports Center; outstanding students are inducted into the Pamplin Society of Fellows; and four undergraduate faculty members hold Pamplin professorships in history, economics, government, and science. Together, father and son have served the College for nearly five decades. They’ve outlasted three College presidents.

In the context of this involvement, it becomes easier to see why the Pamplins view their latest gift to the College as a responsibility. “Our gift demonstrates our fidelity to the College. Both my father and I have participated in the growth of the institution. We felt that we needed to step forward during this difficult period to ensure that everything we’ve struggled to help build wasn’t undone.”

The Pamplins are quick to point out that their gift was not intended to absolve blame. (As the younger Pamplin says, “There’s plenty of blame to go around.”) Instead, it was meant to “get people to understand the need to link together and make amends,” he says.

Like many other stakeholders, the Pamplins are eager to move beyond the events of last summer. “The quality of Lewis & Clark’s faculty, students, and physical plant make it one of the top five private schools in the Northwest,” says the younger Pamplin. “The College has a bright future.” It is in large measure due to the leadership, commitment, and generosity of the Pamplin family that this is so.