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 United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. A native of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, he was chief executive of then

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

company

Louisiana-Pacific Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) is an American building materials manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 and LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels. Currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, LP is the ...

after it was divested by forest products company

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

, which were both then headquartered in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

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 (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was an officer in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

. He also graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. 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 Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

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

University of Portland The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...

, who named its

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

stadium in his honor. Merlo also donated funds to the World Forestry Center 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 located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

, along with his ranch in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a region 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 countie ...

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 American businesspeople in timber American people in the wine industry 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