“I think there’s room for a lot more [philanthropy] in our country,” Eddie Smith Jr. said
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- Eddie Smith Jr. bought Grady-White Boats in 1968 at age 26 and worked up to 100 hours a week to grow it
- Smith chose a trust structure to ensure the company’s independence and support charitable causes after his departure
- “I’ve had many friends in our industry sell their companies,” Smith said. “I do not have a single one who’s happy about what’s happened to their company after they sold”
After spending nearly six decades building Grady-White Boats, CEO Eddie Smith Jr., 83, has decided to give away the company rather than sell it.
Instead of accepting acquisition offers reportedly worth more than $400 million, Smith transferred ownership to a perpetual purpose trust and nonprofit structure that will preserve its independence while directing future profits to charitable causes, according to a news release from the North Carolina based company.
Under the new arrangement, the business will never be sold, according to local NBC affiliate WITN-TV. Its proceeds will go toward supporting causes in the Eastern Carolina region, among them conservation, education and healthcare.
Smith originally planned to leave the company to his son, Chris, according to WITN-TV.
“I’ve had many friends in our industry sell their companies,” Smith said. “I do not have a single one who’s happy about what’s happened to their company after they sold.”
Chris died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rare and terminal nervous system disease, in 2021. After his son’s death, Smith said he didn’t want to sell the company. His wife, Jo Allison, died one year before Chris.
“It was God’s plan,” he told The New York Times. “Sometimes we don’t understand it. I’m looking forward to getting to heaven and asking a few questions.”
Smith purchased Grady-White Boats in 1968 at age 26 after meeting co-founder Don White, who was planning to shutter the company before Smith’s offer to buy it. After recieving a loan from his father, Smith took over, according to the Times.
Smith worked up to 100 hours per week during the business’s early years, investing his own savings to keep it afloat. It has now been profitable for 50 years.
The businessman’s decision to give away his company was inspired, in part, by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who transferred ownership of his company to a trust and nonprofit organization in 2022.
“I think there’s room for a lot more [philanthropy] in our country,” he told Fortune.
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Smith said one of his biggest priorities was making sure Grady-White’s employees would be able to continue their careers without uncertainty after his departure. That commitment resonated with longtime employee Timothy Pittman, who has worked at the company for more than three decades.
“I got a son who works out here,” Pittman told WITN. “He’s been out here two years, and I kind of know when I’m no longer here, he’ll be well taken care of.”
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