Catawba president plans to retire

Catawba College President J. Fred Corriher Jr. told a crowd of students, faculty and staff this morning that he plans to retire in September 2002.

Corriher, 63, assumed the presidency in September 1992 after the sudden death of Dr. Stephen H. Wurster. He will leave after exactly a decade of service to the college.

In an address this morning at Stanback Plaza, Corriher said the job has been “the greatest honor and privilege one could ever receive.”

“Even though I shall leave with a lot of unfinished goals, I do so with the sense that we have been successful through the cooperative efforts of all those who work here...”

Corriher said that he and his wife, Bonnie, who have three daughters and two sons, would like to spend more time traveling, gardening and cooking. He also would like to renew his teaching of wine appreciation.

“I especially look forward to renewing my voice in the world of politics, which has been silent for the past nine years.”

Tom E. Smith, retired CEOof Food Lion and chairman of the college board of trustees, has named retired Salisbury businessman and trustee James G. Whitton to chair a search committee to replace Corriher. Other members of the committee haven’t yet been selected, college officials said.

The committee will consult with Jon McCrae and Associates of Atlanta during its national search.

Corriher has led the largest capital campaign in the private Salisbury college’s 150-year history — an effort to raise $56.6 million. The campaign, which will extend through May 2002, has collected pledges of more than $51 million.

During his tenure, the college’s endowment also has increased from $7.5 million to $35 million, with another $10 million in deferred gifts. Enrollment has risen from 900 to about a record-high 1,450 this year. About 75 percent of those students live on campus.

Tuition has nearly doubled in the past decade, from about $10,000 to $19,320.

A Landis native and 1960 Catawba graduate, Corriher held a long career in the textile industry. He was a consultant in the fields of yarns, medicine and dentistry.

Corriher followed a family lineage of textile executives, including his father, uncle and grandfather. All of them had worked in and managed mills in or near Landis. After the mills merged to form Linn-Corriher Corp., Corriher joined the company in 1962, holding positions of corporate secretary, assistant to the president, executive vice president, president and chief executive officer.

In 1981, Dominion Textiles of Canada bought Linn-Corriher.

Catawba College has been a part of Corriher’s life since he was a child walking construction platforms at the Salisbury-Rowan Dormitory when his grandfather, Lotan A. Corriher, was a college trustee. While attending Catawba himself, Corriher was president of the freshmen class, the campus photographer, vice president and president of the student government association.

A photographer and wine collector, Corriher has a lifelong interest in trains. He also has served on the board of governors of the South Rowan YMCA, which was named in his honor.

He was elected to the college board of trustees in 1975 and served as the board’s chairman from 1984 to 1987.

“Despite the fact that there are still challenges remaining I would have hoped to meet, it is time for me to make way for new leadership that can take CatawbaCollege to the next level of excellence and greatness,” Corriher said this morning.

Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com .