THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310528
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 153 lines
The shelves are nearly bare now. The mementos of a 35-year career in railroading are packed in boxes, loaded to the brim like one of the coal cars that made John R. Turbyfill a business mogul in Norfolk.
Turbyfill, the vice chairman of Norfolk Southern Corp., is retiring today, ending a career that helped build the nation's fourth largest railroad.
``Oddly enough, it feels pretty good,'' he said this week, sitting in his spacious 19th-floor office with a panoramic view of downtown Norfolk. ``I've done all I'm going to do and I have a good personal life.''
Besides he would have bumped up against the railroad's mandatory retirement age of 65 in September.
Turbyfill has been a fixture in Norfolk since 1982 when the merging Roanoke-based Norfolk and Western Railway Co. and Washington-based Southern Railway System decided to put its headquarters here.
While overseeing the big railroad's pocketbook as its top financial officer for many years,Turbyfill has also played an active role in Norfolk's cultural development. He's a past president of the Virginia Stage Company's board and chairman of the National Maritime Center Authority, which operates Nauticus.
``I had some ambitions to be CEO,'' Turbyfill admits, but when other men were chosen he said he greeted the news with a mixture of ``disappointment and relief.''
Still, Turbyfill has been in the railroad's inner circle for several decades.
``John has been a key figure really in the whole history of Norfolk Southern,'' said David R. Goode, the railroad's chairman and chief executive.
In the early 1960s, he wrote the construction contract for the railroad's Pier 6 coal terminal in Norfolk.
He haggled with Southern Railway executives over the nitty-gritty financial details of the 1982 merger and became the newly merged railroad's executive vice president of finance. He was intimately involved in Norfolk Southern's first attempt to buy Conrail in the mid-1980s, which was rejected by Congress.
He also spearheaded the railroad's 1985 purchase of North American Van Lines, the railroad's once troubled trucking unit. And he helped it decide not to buy all of Piedmont Aviation, the airline that later went bankrupt.
He has been ``a valued advisor to my predecessor and to me,'' Goode said.
``John has a surprisingly dry wit,'' said Arnold McKinnon, who retired as chairman and chief executive in 1992. ``He's tough as nails and he's an excellent financial man. . . . He has the ability to put things in wonderful perspective with his sense of humor.''
Turbyfill will be missed in the executive halls of Norfolk Southern's downtown Norfolk tower, colleagues say. The railroad landscape is changing quickly. Western railroads are merging and may soon look east for partners to fulfill the century-old dream of a truly transcontinental railroad.
If Norfolk Southern isn't nimble enough, it could find itself being swallowed by one of the giant Western railroads or put at some competitive disadvantage by other mergers.
But Turbyfill has faith in Norfolk Southern's management.
``I'm not at all concerned about the future of Norfolk Southern, despite the severe handicap they're going to be under of not having me around,'' he said.
``I think the company's going to continue to do well,'' he added. ``We've been a strong player for a long time and I think we will continue to be a strong player no matter what happens.''
Turbyfill is neither short nor tall, large nor thin. His silver gray hair thins on top, but frames bright blue eyes. He's open and has a quick, sometimes self-deprecating wit.
When asked why he got so involved in the community in both Roanoke and Norfolk, he deadpans that he was just ``dumb,'' before adding that it's rewarding and he enjoys meeting the people.
Born in Newland, N.C., a small town in the Blue Ridge, Turbyfill grew up the son of an itinerant mechanic. His family moved around a lot as his father went from job to job during the 1930s, repairing heavy roadbuilding equipment. Turbyfill attended 13 elementary schools.
His family moved to Virginia during World War II, eventually settling in Salem, where Turbyfill was graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1949. His mother still lives in Salem.
He went to Roanoke College and then law school at the University of Virginia. After law school he was hired by the renowned Cravath, Swaine & Moore law firm in New York, where he worked four years.
He married Joyce Bolton during law school. They divorced in 1975, but had two children, Karen Denise Taylor and John Jr. Both children have married and Turbyfill has four grandchildren.
During a visit with his parents, Turbyfill had dinner with Jack Fishwick, a family friend and an executive at Norfolk and Western. Fishwick would later become the N&W's chief executive. That dinner turned into a job offer that Turbyfill accepted.
He returned in 1960 to Virginia, where he worked in the N&W's Roanoke headquarters as an assistant general attorney. The construction contract for the $30 million coal pier was one of his first big assignments. It was a big thing for the young lawyer. ``I was kind of taken aback,'' he said.
It was the first of many big tasks he would perform for the railroad.
Besides overseeing much of the railroad's finances, Turbyfill also served as mentor to a younger generation of railroaders who came after him.
``The mark of John as a boss is to look around the company and see the number of people who worked for him who are now in senior positions,'' said Goode, who once worked under Turbyfill.
Turbyfill delegated authority, Goode said. Just as he was assigned important tasks early in his career, he gave the people under him responsibility.
``He gave people the freedom to succeed or fail,'' Goode said.
After Norfolk Southern came to Norfolk, Turbyfill became actively involved in community organizations. While it is the railroad's policy that executives get involved, Turbyfill's involvement pushed beyond just going to meetings, said Robert E. Brown, a Norfolk attorney who was the founding president of the Virginia Stage Company.
``John chose to involve himself in a sleeves-rolled-up kind of way in the community, particularly the arts,'' Brown said. ``He recognizes the worth - beyond the mere hackneyed phrase that it's good for business and the quality of life - that the arts expand the individuals seated in the audience.''
Turbyfill has recently been deeply involved with Nauticus and has served as chairman of the Norfolk Southern Foundation, which supports numerous cultural groups.
While he plans to scale back his involvement in retirement, he plans to focus more energy on his alma mater Roanoke College where he is chairman of the board.
He also plans to travel more with his wife, Kate Bellflower. The couple met while they were waiting in line to renew their drivers' licenses and were married five years ago. They are headed to California soon for a couple of weeks and Australia next spring.
Last year he also bought a 24-foot powerboat, which is docked behind his Virginia Beach home. Until about a year ago, he had lived in downtown Norfolk's Freemason neighborhood, just a short walk from his office, the Wells Theater and Nauticus.
He and his wife also recently joined the newly formed Bayville Golf Club and plan to take up golf.
But he doesn't plan to start before next week. ``I'm going to work all day Friday,'' he said. ``I'm not going to shortchange the company.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo by Martin Smith-Rodden\The Virginian-Pilot
Today will be Vice Chairman John R. Turbyfill's last with Norfolk
Southern: "Oddly enough, it feels pretty good," he said.
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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
A look at John R. Turbyfill's career:
1953 - graduated from Roanoke College
1956 - graduated from law school at University of Virginia
1956-1960 - lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York
1960-1970 - various positions in Norfolk and Western Railway
Co.'s law department in Roanoke
1970-1972 - senior vice president of N&W subsidiaries Erie
Lackawanna Railway Co. and Delaware and Hudson Railway Co. in
Cleveland
1972-1975 - vice president of administration at N&W in Roanoke
1975-1980 - vice president of finance
1980-1982 - executive vice president of finance
1982-1993 - executive vice president of finance at Norfolk
Southern Corp. in Norfolk
1993 to present - vice chairman
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB