Bowman Gray, Sr.

Bowman Gray, Sr. (May 1, 1874 – July 7, 1935) was a former president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and a major benefactor of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Bowman Gray was born in Winston-Salem to Wachovia co-founder James Alexander Gray and the former Aurelia Bowman. After receiving his primary and secondary education in his hometown, Gray matriculated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1890-91 academic year. He left school the following year to become a clerk at Wachovia. In 1895, he began working at R. J. Reynolds as a salesman. His sales success propelled him into management after two years, at which point he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he married the former Nathalie Fontaine Lyons on October 1, 1902. There she gave birth to their two sons, Bowman Gray, Jr. in 1907 and Gordon Gray in 1909.

In 1912, Gray moved his family to Winston to take up his new position of vice-president and director of R. J. Reynolds. In 1924, he was promoted to president of the company, and in 1932 he became the chairman of the board of directors. Between 1927 and 1932, he and his wife oversaw the construction of Graylyn, their estate in the countryside surrounding Winston. The Graylyn estate was built 1928-1932, by Nathalie and Bowman Gray, the son of the founder of Wachovia Banks. It has an indoor swimming pool. It was donated to the Bowman School of Medicine where it served as an academic psychiatric hospital facility until 1959. In the 1970's parts of it were used as off-campus student housing. In 1979 the main house hosted the Wake Forest University "German House." There is an underground tunnel connecting the main house to the large guest house (the "French House"). It was not until 1980, after a fire burned the top floor of the estate, that the president of the university announced the property would be restored to its original condition and used as a conference center. Two years after the home's completion, Gray died of a heart attack while vacationing with his family aboard a ship off the coast of Norway. He was buried at sea.

Gray left behind him a legacy of philanthropy. He donated the property on which the Centenary Methodist Church in Winston would be built and contributed to local hospitals and orphanages as well. He and his sons also contributed heavily to Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At the time of his death, his holdings in R. J. Reynolds alone were valued at $12 million.

ee also

*Bowman Gray Stadium