Harry A. Merlo (March 5, 1925 – October 24, 2016) was an American businessman and philanthropist in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. A native of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, he was chief executive of then

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

company

Louisiana-Pacific Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, commonly known as "LP", is an American building materials manufacturer. It was founded in 1973 and is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels. ...

after it was divested by forest products company

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and r ...

, which were both then headquartered in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Early life

Harry A. Merlo was born on March 5, 1925, the son of emigrants from Italy. He grew up in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

in Stirling City where his mother ran a boarding house. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was an officer in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. He also graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. After the war he started working in the timber business with Rounds and Kirkpatrick Lumber Company in 1949 where he remained until moving to

, another lumber company, in the 1960s. He had one son, Harry Merlo Jr. Later in life he married Flo Newton.

Career

Merlo worked for Georgia-Pacific when

(LP) was divested in 1973. He was the CEO of the then

-based company. In July 1995, he was forced to resign from LP by the board of directors after the company faced several lawsuits over siding problems. During his time as leader of LP, he also was a professional sports owner. He owned the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

, then of the NASL, from 1979 to 1982. As a philanthropist, he donated money to the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

, who named its

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

stadium in his honor. Merlo also donated funds to the

World Forestry Center The World Forestry Center is a nonprofit educational institution in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located near the Oregon Zoo in Washington Park, the organization was established in 1964 as the Western Forestry Center, with the actual bui ...

and St. Mary's Home for Boys, among others. The World Forestry Center's Merlo Hall and The Harry A. Merlo Award are both named in his honor. He also had LP sponsor tennis events, including the Louisiana Pacific Coast Indoor.

Later life

Following his departure from LP, he spent time running his winery in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

, along with his ranch in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

near La Grande. In 2013, he led a failed effort to convert the Portland Water Bureau into an independent, but still public, entity. Merlo died on October 24, 2016, at the age of 91.

References

External links

RIP Harry Merlo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merlo, Harry 1925 births 2016 deaths Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon American chief executives University of California, Berkeley alumni North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives Portland Timbers Georgia-Pacific Philanthropists from Oregon Businesspeople in timber American winemakers United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II People from Sonoma County, California People from Butte County, California 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References

External links