Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104190306
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: AMY KERR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, says the man who has been called one of the sharpest minds in the railroad industry, young people should have a dream and work hard to achieve it.
Fishwick, former president of the Norfolk and Western Railway, and George Cartledge Sr., founder and chairman of Grand Piano and Furniture Co., will be inducted Tuesday into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame during a black-tie dinner at the Roanoke Airport Marriott.
The Business Hall of Fame was established last year to recognize outstanding business leaders of Southwest Virginia. In order to be considered, nominees must have contributed significantly to the business world and the community. Also, they must be retired or no longer occupying the position in which their principal contributions were made. The laureates were chosen by an honorary committee from an initial list of about 20 qualified individuals.
Fishwick, a native of Roanoke, rose through the ranks of the NW as a company lawyer, becoming president in 1970. One of his greatest business achievements was the negotiation of the NW's merger with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Corp. Fishwick doesn't count it as a personal victory, but part of the successful growth of the NW. It is a good example for young people, he says.
"An example of how the free enterprise system works doesn't have to be an individual; it can be a company," Fishwick says. "The history of the NW while I was there is a great example of how the market economy enables a company to grow and change."
Success isn't measured in dollars, though, Fishwick says. "I think that money is relatively unimportant. Life is too short for anyone to do something he doesn't want to do just to make more money. With that as a guideline, I think it's helpful to have a dream and to work hard to make it come true."
Fishwick has made many contributions to his hometown other than his railroad success. He has been director of the Virginia and Roanoke chambers of commerce, the United Fund of Roanoke Valley, the Roanoke Fine Arts Center and the Roanoke Symphony Society.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Fishwick worked 1 1/2 years as a legal clerk in New York. He settled in Roanoke when he returned from serving as the captain of a Navy ship in World War II.
"Having splashed around a little in the Navy, I wanted to come home," he says. "One of my favorite professors used to say that you ought to go home, back where you came from, and if you had a contribution to make, to make it there."
Cartledge says the key to success is hard work. "You can't expect to work 40 hours a week and really be successful." Cartledge himself is a prime example of the validity of this advice.
He was born in Ila, Ga., and worked his way from a salesman at a furniture store in Atlanta to a partnership in a wholesale furniture business there. In 1945, he came to Roanoke and bought Grand Piano and Furniture with two partners. In 1950, he became sole owner of the chain, which now stretches throughout Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee.
Cartledge, too, has made many contributions to the development of Roanoke. Center in the Square was his project. "Design '79" was a plan of his that brought 40 retail businesses and more than $132 million in investments into the downtown area. He was named Roanoke's Citizen of the Year in 1984 and Virginia's Retailer of the Year in 1988. He has served on the boards of many groups, including Junior Achievement, Community Hospital, YMCA, Red Cross, Retail Merchants Association and City Rescue Mission.
Of all his accomplishments, Cartledge says his greatest was not in the business world, but in the home. "My family is my greatest achievement," he says. Cartledge has two children and was named Roanoke Valley Father of the Year in 1965.
by CNB