WYNTON MALCOLM BLOUNT

Wynton Malcolm Blount Wynton Malcom (Red) Blount, age 81, of Montgomery, died Thursday, October 24, 2002, at his summer home in Highlands, North Carolina following an extended illness. He died peacefully, surrounded by his children and devoted wife Carolyn. Mr. Blount, internationally known industrialist and philanthropist, was a friend of Governors, Presidents, world leaders and everyday citi-zens. He had a deep love for his family, his city and state, and he contributed much of his personal resources toward improving the quality of life for citizens everyw-here. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Self Blount; daughter, Kay Blount Miles of Birmingham, AL; and sons, Winton M. Blount III (Riley) of Mont-gomery, AL; Thomas A. Blount of Los Angeles, CA; Samuel Roberts Blount (Mary) of Birmingham, AL; and Jo-seph W. Blount of Southampton, NY; stepchildren, Dr. Robert E. Varner, Jr. (Pam) of Birmingham, AL; and Carolyn Stuart Varner King (George) of Lillian, AL. He is also survived by a brother W. Houston Blount (Frances) of Birmingham, AL; 14 grandchildren, 9 great grand-children and many nieces and ne-phews. Funeral Services will be held Mon-day, October 28, 2002, at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church with Dr. Karl Stegall officiating. A private burial will be held at the Chapel at Wynfield following the church ser-vice. Visitation will be at Wynfield, the Blount home on Vaughn Road, on Sunday, October 27, 2002, from 4-6 p.m. Serving as pallbearers will be his grandsons: Winton M. Blount IV, Wil-liam Edward Waters Blount, Judkins Durr Blount, John Overton Blount, Samuel Roberts Blount Jr., Daniel Gardner Blount, James Verner Miles IV, Thomas Blount Miles, Samuel Henry Miles and Robert Duncan Varner. His granddaughters are: Katherine Stuart Blount Yelverton, Laura Kelly Blount Grimsley, Mildred Virginia Blount and Stuart Ann Varner. Honorary Pallbearers will be John Caddell, Johnnie Carr, Bill Chandler, Taylor Dawson, Aubrey Dubose, Paul Fields, Jerry Hudson, Joe McInnes, Shirley Milligan, Os-car Reak, Philip Sellers, Charlie Sta-kely, W. E. ""Bull"" Wilson and Sam Wilson of Montgomery; Tom Car-ruthers of Birmingham, AL; Paul Carlin and Admiral Thomas Moorer of Washington, D.C.; Gene Cart-ledge of Savannah, GA; Peter Fla-nigan of Purchase, NY; Tony Ran-dall of New York, NY; Don Kendall of Greenwich, CT; Jim Hargrove of Houston, TX; Jim Osterman of Port-land, OR; Verne Ver Hulst of High-lands, NC and former President Ge-rald Ford of Avon, CO. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Blount Cultural Park, 6055 Vaughn Road, Mont-gomery, AL 36116. Born February 1, 1921, in Union Springs, Alabama, Red Blount, as he was known to his friends, was educated in Union Springs public schools, at the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, and at the University of Alabama (1939-41). Early on, he set his sights on the world stage, where he built succes-sful businesses and contributed greatly to society. Determined to accomplish big dreams, his professional career began in 1941 when he, along with his brother Houston, was associat-ed with his father's interests in short-line railroads and building materi-als. After service in the US Army Air corps as a B-29 pilot, he co-founded Blount Brothers Corpora-tion in 1946, serving as president and chairman until August 1999, except for a brief period of public service. His construction company became noted for building some of the largest and most significantly complex projects of the century, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile base near Cheyenne, Wyoming, moon and space shuttle launch pads at Cape Canaveral, Florida. His company built the New Orleans Superdome and later the $2 billion King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, then the largest fixed-price construction con-tract in history. In 1968, he became president of the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC; in 1969, he left the company to serve as Postmaster General of the United States, as a member of President Richard M. Nixon's cabinet. He led the efforts to pass postal reform and from 1970-71, he served as the first chairman of the board of the US Postal Ser-vice. In 1972, he returned to Ala-bama where he was a candidate for the US Senate. In 1973, he re-joined the company he founded, which had, by then, become more diversified. He served as chairman of Blount International, a New York Stock Exchange international ma-nufacturing company headquar-tered in Montgomery, with opera-tions and distribution in more than 130 countries around the globe. During this time, he also served as a director of the Union Camp Corpo-ration and was a trustee and chairman of the Boards of Rhodes College and the University of Ala-bama. Among the business and profes-sional associations on which he has served or chaired are the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce, Ala-bama Road Builders Association, Business Council of Alabama, and the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the advisory board of trustees for Leadership Alabama. Nationally, he was a member of the Business Council, served as director and chair of the executive committee of the Young Presidents Organization, the Conference Board, National As-sociation of Manufacturers, and the American Management Associa-tion. Setting an example for others to be involved in the local community, he served the United Way, YMCA, First United Methodist Church and Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. He also served as founding chair-man and member of the Board of Governors of the Capital City Club of Montgomery and was a director of the Alabama Shakespeare Fes-tival. Contributing to the larger so-ciety he has been a tireless sup-porter of the arts. He was involved with bringing the Vatican Art Col-lection to the US, and served the Folger Shakespeare Library in Wa-shington, DC and the National Ac-tors Theatre in New York City. He has also served as a board memb-er of Friends of American Art in Re-ligion, on President Ronald Rea-gan's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, as a former member of the Court of Governors for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon, England, a former trustee for the Southern Center for Internation-al Studies, and a board member of Americans for the Arts. In the 1980s, he built a theater complex in Montgomery for the Alabama Sha-kespeare Festival that the Washing-ton Post drama critic called ""the most beautiful theater building I've seen on five continents."" His gift was the largest ever made to an arts company at the time. He has since created the 300-acre Blount Cultural Park around the theatre complex, the Montgomery Mu-seum of Fine Arts, and his home, Wynfield. He is past national chair-man, board member and chair-man of the executive committee of the Business Committee for the Arts and chairman of the Advisory Commission of the National Postal Museum in Washington. The honors bestowed upon him for his accomplishments are numerous beginning in 1956 as one of four Outstanding Young Men in Alaba-ma to 1985 when he was cited by Engineering News Record maga-zine as ""one who served the best interests of the construction indus-try."" Other recognitions include the Golden Knight of Management award by the Alabama Council of National Management Association, Alabama Academy of Honor, Na-tional Brotherhood Award by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1979, he was guest of honor and speaker for the Alaba-ma Dinner of the Newcomen Socie-ty of North America and was the Golden Plate Recipient for the Ame-rican Academy of Achievement. He received the annual Gold Med-al award from Pope John Paul II in 1981, the Living for America Award, Alabama, in 1982, and the Business in the Arts award in 1982. In 1984, he received the Outstanding Citi-zen of the Year from the Mental Health Association of Alabama, and he was cited by then Governor George Wallace for Distinguished Service to the State of Alabama. In 1986, the Northwood Institute in West Palm Beach, FL, recognized him as one of the recipients of the Outstanding Business Leader Award. He received the Award for Excellence in Corporate Collecting by the Association of Corporate Art Curators and the Illustrious Moderns Award from the Wedgwood Socie-ty, both of Chicago. He was named 1987 Citizen of the Year by the Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame, and named Citizen of the Year by the Alabama Broadcasters Association in 1988. In 1989, he received the Award for Ex-cellence from the Alabama State Arts Council, the Silver Beaver Award from the Tukabatchee Council of the Boy Scouts of Ameri-ca, and the Alabama Humanities Award. The Association of Govern-ing Boards of Universities and Col-leges gave him the Distinguished Service Award and the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded him the Charles Frankel Prize, both in 1991. The National Governors Association saluted him with the Distinguished Service Arts Award in 1992. In 1993, Rhodes Col-lege honored him with its Disting-uished Service Award and Beaver Creek, Colorado, named him Citi-zen of the Year. He was recognized again in 1995 by the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc., receiv-ing its Leadership Award, and the Retirement System of Alabama hono red him with an Outstanding Alabamian Model for the Ad-vancement of Education and Commerce. In 1996, he was ho-nored by Leadership Alabama with its Lifetime Achievement Award and the Association of Builders and Contractors with their Cornerstone Award. He received the Special Recognition Award from the Na-tional Actors Theatre in 1998. In 1999, he received the Howell Heflin Statesmanship Award, the Volun-teer and Information Services Sus-tained Superior Performance Award, the Alabama Stage and Screen Induction, and the Alaba-ma Wildlife Federation's Conserva-tionist of the Year Award. In 2000, he was named Montgomery's Citi-zen of the Century and profiled with a special section in the Montgom-ery Advertiser. In 2001, Auburn Uni-versity honored him and his wife Carolyn at the United Nations in New York City for their lifetime con-tributions to the State of Alabama. The National Association of Fund Raising Professionals awarded him the 2002 Outstanding Philanthropist Award. H e was honored again in Montgomery by U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney who dedicated the Blount Cultural Park in July 2002. In recognition of his many achievements, he has been awarded honorary doctorates from Judson College, Huntingdon Col-lege, Birmingham-Southern Col-lege, Rhodes College, Seattle-Pacif-ic College, the University of Alaba-ma, Samford University, St. John's University, Washington and Jeffer-son College, Troy State University, and Amherst College.Leak-Memory Chapel Directing