Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

Pamplin was one of the backers of the Effort to preserve Shaniko, Oregon, a former central Oregon sheep's wool transportation terminus of the Columbia River Southern Railway Company (1900 c. 1911) boomtown that is now considered a ghost town.

Through personal and corporate giving, Pamplin has donated more than $150 million to numerous charities and has been instrumental in raising $500 million more for various causes.

Pamplin also ran a food ministry for many years through Christ Community Church, where he was founder and senior pastor.

Robert Boisseau Pamplin Jr. (born September 3, 1941) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and minister.

He is also noted as an educator, historic preservationist and author.

A longtime Oregonian, Pamplin is chairman, president and CEO of R.B. Pamplin Corporation, a family-owned company headquartered in Portland.

It is one of the largest private corporations in Oregon.

He has appeared on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans.

In 1953, Pamplin moved with his family to Oregon.

As a 10-year-old recovering from a year-long bout with hepatitis that made him bedridden, Pamplin began training in the Charles Atlas weightlifting method to regain his strength.

In high school, he became an AAU Olympic Lifts weightlifting champion which led to a lifelong commitment to fitness.

After graduating from Lincoln High School in Portland, Pamplin studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, ultimately transferring to Lewis and Clark College in 1962 to complete his undergraduate training.

Pamplin has received eight degrees, including two doctorates:

In 1965, while in college, Pamplin became a licensed stockbroker and transformed a modest inheritance into his first million dollars through careful investing.

Pamplin and his wife Marilyn live in Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland.

He was appointed by two governors to the Oregon State Scholarship Commission, serving from 1974 to 1980.

Pamplin is an active donor to numerous colleges, universities and scholarship programs.

The business school at University of Portland is named for him and the college of business at Virginia Tech for him and his father.

Scholarship programs created by Pamplin include The Pamplin Scholars Program at Virginia Tech and The Pamplin Society of Fellows at Lewis & Clark College.

He served on President Gerald Ford's National Advisory Council on Vocational Education from 1975 to 1980.

In 1976, at age 35, Pamplin started his own business and managed the R.B. Pamplin Corporation.

As chairman, President and CEO of the R.B. Pamplin Corporation, Pamplin oversees several subsidiaries across three industries, including textile manufacturing, construction and media.

Holdings include:

Pamplin's ownership of both media and major business interests in the Portland area has had some controversy, as his media holdings have been said to be engaged in a "newspaper war" over local circulation with The Oregonian and its affiliated papers.

Pamplin established Pamplin Historical Park in 1993.

The park contains the NRHP-listed Petersburg Breakthrough Battlefield; and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier (established 1999), and has preserved critical aspects of the Civil War.

In 2001, he was reported to be the third-wealthiest person in Oregon.

Pamplin's holdings include textile company Mount Vernon Mills, the Pamplin Media Group, and Ross Island Sand and Gravel, a concrete and asphalt company.

Pamplin was born in Augusta, Georgia to Robert B. and Katherine Reese Pamplin.

When the Tribune was launched in 2001, and again as of fall 2012, his planned donation to the city of Portland of part of Ross Island, where his concrete and asphalt company is located, became controversial when industrial contamination was discovered on parts of the island.

In February 2022, Willamette Week detailed alleged mismanagement of Pamplin's employee pension fund.

By the end of the 2023, the company's pension fund held 52% of its assets in real estate, which is five times the maximum the U.S. Department of Labor allows.

On Dec. 13, 2023, Pacific Fence and Wire Company filed a lawsuit alleging that Ross Island Sand & Gravel and Robert Pamplin Jr. failed to pay a $153,000 bill.

After receiving his master's degrees, Pamplin began teaching as a lecturer at Lewis & Clark College and went on to become a tenured business professor at the University of Portland.

Pamplin has also served on several state and presidential appointed commissions, and college boards of directors.

He is a past trustee of five college boards, and past chairman of three, including Lewis & Clark College, Western Seminary and the University of Portland.

In 2007, Pamplin donated 45 acre of the 400 acre Ross Island to the city of Portland, which plans to manage the property as a natural area.

The island contains considerable natural habitat, but also contains industrial waste and toxic fill dirt and is listed for cleanup by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The portions donated to the city, however, are thought to be pristine and contain habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including bald eagles.

The Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. International Collection of Art and History encompasses 5,000 years of antiquities and art.