Herman H. Pevler (20 April 1903 – 29 August 1978) was the 10th President of the

Roanoke, VA Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

based

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W). He had previously served as President of the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

, and served as President of the N&W from October 1, 1963, until his retirement in April 1970.

Personal life

Commonwealth Magazine The Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, or "MassINC," is registered as a non-profit 501(c) organization that functions as a nonpartisan, evidence-based think tank. Its mission is to develop a public agenda for Massachusetts that pro ...

'' once described Pevler as "a driver who operated with doors open and coats off," citing the "sheer force of his personality" and vigor in his activities. He was an alumnus of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. He was buried in Evergreen Burial Park, Roanoke, Virginia,

Career

In 1927, Herman Pevler commenced work with the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

, and he was elected Vice President of that railway in 1948. In 1959, he was elected a director of the First National Bank in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Herman Pevler was the president of

before he succeeded Stuart T. Saunders as President of N&W. Saunders left to head the

, a major N&W stockholder at that time. Pulver oversaw a complex group of mergers, which began under Saunders and brought into the N&W fold the

Nickel Plate Road The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York (state), Ne ...

, the

, and portions of the

. The mergers were completed in 1964 and widely expanded the company, reaching such major points as Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. The latter two were major gateways and interchange points with western railroads. Following the expansion, NW revenues quadrupled during Pevler's administration. Coming from the Wabash, he was the first N&W president in the 20th century to have not come up through the lower ranks of the N&W, and his leadership was met with some resistance by some N&W staff. Among his legacies was a change in N&W livery on locomotives to a blue very similar to that employed by the Wabash, which became known within the company as "Pevler blue." As his mandatory retirement age approached, it became known that Pevler intended to recommend to the Board of Directors a top official of another railroad as his replacement. However, quick maneuvering by N&W insiders and lobbying of key directors resulted in the selection of John P. Fishwick, a longtime N&W staff attorney who Pevler had assigned to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

to oversee a subsidiary operation. In 1959, Pulver wrote a 12-page pamphlet on

Featherbedding Featherbedding is the practice of hiring more workers than are needed to perform a given job, or to adopt work procedures which appear pointless, complex and time-consuming merely to employ additional workers. The term "make-work" is sometimes used ...

titled ''The Changing Railroad Picture''. Pulver supported the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966.

Awards

In 1967, Pulver was named Roanoke's Outstanding Citizen.

References

External links

''The Changing Railroad Picture by Herman H. Pevler''
1903 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American railroad executives Purdue University alumni {{US-rail-bio-stub