Robert Louis “Bob” Strickland, former chairman of the board of Lowe’s Companies Inc., died Friday at his home in Winston-Salem. He was 87.
A memorial service for Strickland will be held Tuesday (today) at 4 p.m. in the chapel of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wilkesboro, with the Rev. Alan Laymon presiding. The family will receive guests at a reception immediately following the ceremony in the church’s fellowship hall.
Strickland was the last surviving of five men who led Lowe’s as a team for 18 years after Lowe’s founder Carl Buchan died unexpectedly in 1960. Buchan had put them together as an executive committee based on the expertise of each and their belief in his dream of creating a national retail chain.
Strickland brought marketing acumen, Leonard Herring was in finance, Joe Reinhardt in distribution and data processing, Pete Kulynych in purchasing and Johnny Walker in sales.
Strickland grew up in Asheboro, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952 and was in the Navy from 1952-1955. He served as a lieutenant aboard a destroyer in the Korean War.
He graduated with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1957, and went to work later that same year as a Lowe’s manager trainee in North Wilkesboro, where the company was founded and based. Strickland was chairman when he retired in 1997 after a 40-year career with Lowe’s. He was named chairman emeritus in 1999.
Strickland was instrumental in the authorship and implementation of Lowe’s profit-sharing/Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Cliff Oxford of Winston-Salem, a retired Lowe’s executive who worked directly for Strickland, said his goal was for the Lowe’s profit sharing and ESOP to provide lasting wealth and comfort to all Lowe’s employees.
Oxford said Strickland loved Lowe’s and wanted to be interred in Wilkes because he loved this county.
“He adored his family and his wife, Betty, and has always been a strong example to us all of how to live life to the fullest and in an honorable way.”
He called Strickland a titan in retail sales and an important strategist for Lowe’s.
Strickland was well known as a speaker, particularly on behalf of Lowe’s. Reflecting his strong optimistic outlook, said Oxford, he always ended his speeches by saying “the best is yet to come.”
Oxford said Professor Walter J. Salmon at Harvard Business School always invited Strickland to speak to his second-year students about ethics and “how you can be a good guy” and still be successful in business.
Strickland provided many college scholarships and was a strong supporter of programs that feed the hungry through the Strickland Family Foundation, which he established.
He spent the last six years of his life as a resident of Arbor Acres in Winston-Salem, where he and his wife endowed a skilled nursing facility. In May, they endowed the “Robert L. Strickland Center” at Forsyth Technical Institute to offer enhanced career guidance, education and counseling to Forsyth Tech students.
Vaughn Hayes of North Wilkesboro, also a retired Lowe’s executive, said Strickland “had the power of the idea.” Strickland designed award-winning Lowe’s annual reports for many years.
At a time when nearly all of the company’s business was in contractor sales, Strickland realized the growth potential with retail sales do-it-yourself customers. He advocated for that and for transforming to the larger “big box” stores, thus playing an important role in the company’s success today.
“He was a renaissance man because he had so many interests—the arts, Lowe’s, people. And he was a dapper man. He always wore a handkerchief” in his jacket pocket,” said Hayes.
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