North
Carolina
Business
Hall of
Fame
Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles (Nov. 16, 1919 - Sept. 7,1986)
Inducted 1991
Businessman and public servant, Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles was born on Sept. 19, 1919, in Monroe, NC. He was one of the state's leading businessmen, as well as a legislative leader and Democratic candidate for
Junior Achievement
After graduating from Monroe High School, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Class of 1941). He left after four years to enter the insurance business and married Jessamine Woodward Boyce of Gastonia in June 1941. He worked in Hartford, CT, for one of the city's leading insurers, before returning to Greensboro to work for an insurance ahency, Thomas Gresham Redden, Inc. from 1942-43.
He entered the armed services in 1943 and served in the states until discharged in 1945. He joined Thomas & Howard Company, his father-in-law's firm of wholesale food distributor. For his first three years at the firm, Skipper started as a warehouseman, then went on to shipping clerk, delivery man and salesman. He served as vice president from 1948 to 1952, when he assumed the presidency after his father-in-law's passing.
In 1956, he formed the Bowles Realty and Insurance Company. He sold his interests in Thomas & Howard Company to his business partners in 1958.
In 1961 he was appointed as executive director and then later as chairman of the NC Department of Conservation and Development by Governor Terry Sanford.
Returning to Greensboro as an investment banker (chairman, Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co.) and his other enterprises, Bowles worked for two years before being elected in 1967 as a state representative to the NC General Assembly. He served for one term before being elected as a state senator (1969-1972).
He won the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1972, but was narrowly defeated by 45,000 votes by Jim Holshouser, the first Republican Governor elected in the 20th Century. Holshouser benefited from the Richard Nixon landslide victory over George McGovern that year.
Continuing his private businesses, Bowles also served on numerous board of directors over the years -- Jewel Box Stores Corp., First Mortgage Insurance Co., American Hog Co., First Union National Bank, Capri Industries, etc.
He also served as board member or capital campaign chair for a variety of learning institutions -- Pfeiffer College, Guildford, NC School for the Deaf, University of North Carolina. For UNC, he lead the fundraising for the student activities center and to fund a research center into alcoholism treatment.
Among the many honors, Bowles received NC Distinguished Citizen Award (1964), the Silver Medallion from the American Heart Association (national 1966), the Public Service Award from the National Rehabilitation Association (NC Chapter 1970), the Charles R. Parker Award in 1971 from the NC Travel Council, and the UNC Distinguished Service Medal (1982) and University Award (1983).
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