William Gray "Bill" Daughtridge Jr. (December 19, 1952 – September 2, 2019) was a businessman from

Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe and Nash County, North Carolina, Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it ...

, who served three terms from 2003 to 2008 as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

representing the state's twenty-fifth

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

district, including constituents in Nash County. Daughtridge's terms in office coincided with the peak activity of the Seven Bridges Road Killer.

Early life and education

Born in Rocky Mount, Daughtridge was president of an oil distribution/transportation/retail company formed by his grandfather in 1929. He earned BS and MBA degrees at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a

Morehead Scholar The Morehead-Cain Scholarship (originally the Morehead Scholarship) was the first merit scholarship program established in the United States. It was founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1951 and was named for its benefact ...

. Daughtridge has served on the North Carolina Economic Development Board, the Travel and Tourism Board and was appointed to numerous economic development positions while serving in the Legislature. In addition, Daughtridge served on the UNC Board of Governors as the Vice Chair of Budget, and Chair of Governance. Daughtridge served in the

North Carolina National Guard The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG), commonly known as the North Carolina Guard, is a component of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the National Guard of the United States. It is composed of Army and Air National Guard unit ...

from 1972 to 1978.

Political career

While in office, his appointments included serving as the Commerce Committee Chairman, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Vice Chairman and serving as Co-Chair on the Joint Select Committee UNC Board of Governors and Economic Growth Development. Daughtridge ran for

North Carolina State Treasurer The North Carolina State Treasurer is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina responsible for overseeing the financial operations of state government. The current state treasurer is Dale Folwell. The office of state treasur ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. His only opponent in the primary election, State Representative

Dale Folwell Dale Robbins Folwell (born December 17, 1958) is an American politician who has been the North Carolina State Treasurer since 2017. A Republican from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Folwell spent four terms in North Carolina House of Representativ ...

, dropped out. Daughtridge lost in the general election to Democratic State Senator

Janet Cowell Janet Cowell (born July 19, 1968) is the former North Carolina State Treasurer, serving from 2009 to 2017, and is the first woman to hold that position in North Carolina. She was previously a two-term member of the Raleigh City Council and a tw ...

. In 2011, Daughtridge became a senior advisor to new

Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives The Speaker of the North Carolina North Carolina House of Representatives, House of Representatives is the presiding officer of one of the houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The Speaker is elected by the members of the house when they ...

Thom Tillis Thomas Roland Tillis (born August 30, 1960) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from North Carolina since 2015. A Republican, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2006, and began servi ...

. In 2013, newly elected Governor

Pat McCrory Patrick Lloyd McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American businessman, politician and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd Mayor o ...

appointed him to serve as his Secretary of Administration. He died in Rocky Mount on September 2, 2019, at the age of 66.

References

State cabinet secretaries of North Carolina Republican Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School alumni 2019 deaths 21st-century American politicians 1952 births People from Rocky Mount, North Carolina {{NorthCarolina-politician-stub