Wayland Henry Cato Jr.

1923 - 2023

Wayland Henry Cato, Jr.

March 23, 1923 - November 4, 2023

Charlotte, North Carolina - After a long and productive life, enriched by countless adventures with his treasured family and friends, Wayland Henry Cato, Jr., 100, of Sheridan, Wyoming, Charleston, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina died peacefully on November 4, 2023.

He will be remembered as a consummate gentleman known for his thoughtful manner and style by the communities in which he lived and to which he enthusiastically contributed. He was a visionary man of exceptional standards who possessed an insatiable curiosity for all that life offered him.

Even in the final years he was forward-looking, and Mr. Cato embraced every new challenge with enthusiasm, reveling in new interests. Always open-minded, he was an avid reader who challenged himself to know and understand new ideas and the world around him, even learning to use an iPhone 13 in his late nineties.

Born in Ridge Spring, South Carolina on March 23, 1923, he grew up in Bath, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia where he graduated from Richmond Academy. In 1944 he matriculated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce and a commission in the U.S. Navy. After attending the Naval Mine Warfare School, he proudly served as the commanding officer of a minesweeper assigned to patrolling the entrance to San Francisco Bay during World War II.

Returning from the war, he married his late wife and mother of their eight children, Margaret Boutt Cato. He was a deeply committed father who valued creating opportunities for his children throughout his life.

In 1946 in Charlotte, NC, he and his father co-founded The Cato Corporation, a leading specialty retailer of value-priced women's fashion apparel and accessories. His vision, business acumen and corporate leadership yielded great success. The company now operates 1,240 stores in 32 states. Wayland Jr. retired in 2004 as chairman emeritus of The Cato Corporation.

Throughout his life, Mr. Cato remained profoundly reverent of land and open spaces. Intent on demonstrating these values to his children, in the early 1950s he moved his growing family to what was then rural Mecklenburg County, south of Charlotte, and for many years ran a working farm so that his children could experience the adventures he had as a child. A horseback rider from the age of two, he instilled the same passion to his children. He reluctantly gave up riding at the age of 88. A lifelong hunter, he cherished memories of a big game safari in Africa in the 1950s, of polar bears in Alaska, bird hunting in South America, and game hunts with his children in the American West.

Always fit and athletic, he pursued many sports with his large family throughout his life including skiing, golf, polo and sailing. At the age of 80, he purchased a sailboat on which he intended to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He was an ardent swimmer and never missed a day in the pool.

After 65 years as the head of the Cato operation, he returned to his native South Carolina and in 1992 purchased a c.1800 house in downtown Charleston, which he meticulously restored to its original state, to be his home.

In 1998 he married Marion Rivers Ravenel Cato of Charleston, who has been his devoted companion for 25 years.

Eager to fulfill his dream of owning a cattle ranch in the West, in 2001 he purchased land near Sheridan, Wyoming at age 78 where he operated a working Black Angus cattle ranch, restoring an 1876 historical ranch property, the PK Ranch on Soldier Creek. At its peak, the Cato Ranch grew to almost 90,000 acres with 2,200 cow calf pairs.

In 2003 he rescued, moved, and rebuilt the c.1816 William Alston House from downtown Charleston to his Berkeley County property on the Cooper River. All of his projects have been recognized by local and national preservation groups for the quality of their rescue, rehabilitation, and restoration.

As a decades-long civic leader who engaged energetically with his community, Mr. Cato served on many non-profit and for-profit boards and was particularly active as treasurer of the Spoleto Festival, USA for fourteen years; the Carolina Art Association/Gibbes Museum of Art; the Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC; and the College of Charleston Foundation. For many years he served on the board of directors of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He was board chair of First Charlotte Bank, and a member of the Charlotte City Advisory Board of Nations Bank, now Bank of America. He was a board member on both the N.C. and National Retail Merchants Associations.

During his life, Mr. Cato received numerous honors, including The Order of the Long Leaf Pine and The Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian award of North Carolina and South Carolina, respectively; honorary degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Queens University, the College of Charleston and Presbyterian College. He was inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame, received the Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year in 2005, and was the recipient of Central Piedmont Community College's Distinguished Service Award and the Leadership Award of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. He was a member of The Society of Colonial Wars, South Carolina chapter.

Wayland Jr. was an ardent believer in the power of education. In 1974, to honor his father, Wayland Henry Cato Sr., he endowed his first personal scholarship fund, at Central Piedmont Community College.

During his 33-year tenure as chairman of the board of directors of The Cato Corporation, Wayland Jr. was responsible for the company's charitable contributions, which included establishing 42 endowed scholarship funds at 14 institutions of higher education in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York as well as significant contributions to other non-profit organizations in the Carolinas.

In 1997 he established and began funding the Wayland Henry Cato Jr. Foundation, a private foundation whose primary mission is the endowment of scholarship funds at accredited institutions of higher education in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wyoming. Recipients are students who have financial needs and the experience of both working for pay and volunteering. Wayland Jr. said, "I am proud to be able to assist deserving individuals in achieving their educational goals. It gives me pleasure to know that these endowed scholarship funds will continue to aid people who want to help themselves." Since its inception the Foundation has established more than 55 endowed funds, 38 of which are endowed scholarship funds, in 45 different organizations. It has provided financial assistance to more than 2,500 Cato Scholars.

Mr. Cato was predeceased by his first wife and the mother of his eight children, Margaret Catherine Boutt Cato (1925-1963), and an infant daughter, Margaret Louise Cato (1953). He was also predeceased by his parents, Wayland Henry Cato Sr. (1893-1974) and Annie Marshall Derham Cato (1891-1954), his brother, Edgar Thomas Cato (1925-2011); his daughter Clarice's husband, James Dent Goodyear (1946-2021), and his sons Henry Pickens Cato II (1955-2022) and Wayland Henry Cato III (1948-2023).

Wayland Cato Jr. was a loving and generous husband, father, and grandfather. Mr. Cato is survived by his wife, Marion Rivers Cato. He is survived by two daughters, Clarice Cato Goodyear and Catherine Evelyn Cato (Gene Ehmann), and by three sons, John Pickens Derham Cato (Jane Greeson Cato), Thomas Edgar Cato (Martha Washam Cato), and Joseph Courtney Cato (Larisa Ivannikova Cato). He is survived by daughters-in-law Lisa Jones Cato and Rhonda Gibson Cato. He is survived by seven grandchildren: Wayland Henry Cato IV (Jennifer Bogart), Wayland Henry Cato V, David Thomas Cato (Meade Carey), Joseph Alexander Cato (Andrew Alexander), Nicholas Alexandre Cato (Cecilia Sullivan), Eliza Liggett Cato (Gabe Stuart), and Henry Alexander Cato.

Wayland Cato Jr. had an infectious and self-deprecating sense of humor, tremendous vitality, and a zest for life. He is an inspiration to many. He is much beloved and deeply missed.

Two memorial services will be held.

In Charleston, visitation will be at Carolina Yacht Club, 50 East Bay Street, Tuesday, November 14, 2023 from 4-6 pm and the funeral service will be Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 2 pm, at St. Philip's Church, 142 Church Street. Interment in Magnolia Cemetery will be private. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Downtown Chapel.

In Charlotte, Wayland Cato Jr.'s memorial service will be held Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 3 pm, at Myers Park United Methodist Church, 1501 Queens Road, with Dr. James Howell, Senior Pastor, officiating. The memorial service will be immediately followed by a Reception at Quail Hollow Club, 3700 Gleneagles Road.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to The Wayland Henry Cato Jr. Foundation, 13777 Ballantyne Corporate Place, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28277 or to an educational or charitable institution of your choice.

A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.