Jerry E. Dempsey*

The second of three children, Jerry Dempsey was born in 1932 and raised in Landrum, South Carolina. Both of his parents worked long hours in a local textile mill. The family lived in a small house that lacked indoor plumbing. Their heat came from a wood stove, and it was Dempsey's job to chop wood each day. The family also raised much of their own food, including cattle, hogs, chickens, and vegetables. When he was older, Dempsey had a 12-mile paper route, and he also worked in a grocery store as a stock boy and cashier.

An excellent student, Dempsey was on the debate team in high school and served as student body president. He graduated valedictorian of his class and enrolled at Clemson University. He had several scholarships that helped pay his tuition, but he supplemented that by working summers on oil barges. Although Dempsey majored in mechanical engineering, he dreamed of one day running a major company. "I never intended to practice engineering," he said. "I felt a good technical education would put me in a good position to advance in a corporation."

Dempsey graduated first in his mechanical engineering class and served as president of the senior council at Clemson, president of the South Carolina Baptist Student Union, and regimental executive officer of the Clemson Cadet Corps. While at Clemson, he won a scholarship from Owens Corning Fiberglass, which hired him upon his graduation. Six months later, he left to serve in the military, after which he joined the air-conditioning division of Borg-Warner as a sales engineer.

Dempsey rapidly rose through the ranks. In 1960, Borg-Warner's chairman, Robert Ingersoll, selected Dempsey to be his executive assistant. Ingersoll became Dempsey's mentor and encouraged him to enroll in the MBA program at the University of Chicago, but a promotion moved him to Atlanta so Dempsey finished his master's degree at Georgia State University. In 1979, he was named president and chief operating officer of Borg-Warner.

In 1984, shortly before Borg-Warner's sale to Merrill Lynch, Dempsey joined WMX Technologies as vice chairman. A year later, he was promoted to president of its Chemical Waste Management subsidiary, becoming chairman in 1991. Two years later, he retired as chairman and CEO and took on those positions at PPG Industries, Inc. He retired from PPG in 1997.

Despite his own success, Dempsey said, "I feel that you have to keep a balance in your life. Business is important, but you should also consider family, church, society, and your fellow human beings." An avid supporter of the Horatio Alger scholarship program, Dempsey added, "I had to work my way through college, so I know that scholarships are very important to those who receive them."