By Emily Ford
For the Salisbury Post
CHAPEL HILL ó From humble beginnings cleaning chicken coops and sleeping in a park to a billionaire four times over, David H. Murdock shared secrets of his success with students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Be determined.
Take time to think.
Shine your shoes.
“It was excellent,” student Ryan McCulloch said after Murdock’s lecture. “It’s a philosophy from a different generation.”
Murdock, who turns 85 next month, spoke for two hours Monday night during a public health entrepreneurship class taught by Dr. Alice Ammerman and Dr. Daniel Pomp.
Murdock delivered a mix of motivation and old-fashioned advice, saying “negative thoughts defeat you” and “proper grooming matters.”
Murdock said he’s never learned to use a computer, doesn’t have a cell phone and has made plenty of mistakes in his life.
“Failure is a great teacher,” he said.
He gave a dramatic recitation of “Invictis” by William Ernest Henley, which he called his personal creed and one of a hundred poems he has memorized.
The students seemed impressed.
“I can feel the passion he is able to evoke,” said Corey Caldwell, a dental student who grew up in Cabarrus County. “I could see how someone with that kind of energy could be as successful as he has been.”
Caldwell’s grandmother worked in Cannon Mills, the old textile plant in Kannapolis that Murdock once owned. Now Murdock is building the N.C. Research Campus where the mill once stood, a $1.5 billion biotechnology center that will focus on preventing chronic diseases and boosting the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables.
The sole owner of Dole Food Co. and real estate giant Castle & Cooke, Murdock grew up poor in Wayne, Ohio.
He was “always hungry” and stuffed cardboard in the holes of his hand-me-down shoes, he said.
Severely dyslexic, he dropped out after failing ninth grade when a teacher told him he was “hopeless.”
He worked in a chicken hatchery checking eggs for fertility and cleaning coops. He hoed corn in the fields and greased cars at a gas station. His mother taught him to read, and he began memorizing poetry.
He was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II and served as a gunner instructor, losing much of his hearing. When he was discharged with $118, he spent most of it on a “cute little girl.” They didn’t work out.
Broke and alone, he went to Detroit with six cents in his pocket and slept in a park for five nights. He borrowed $900 to buy his first business, a 14-seat diner.
He sold it a year later for a $1,200 profit.
He moved to Phoenix and stumbled into housing development. He was worth more than $100 million by age 33.
He owned Cannon Mills for a short time in the 1980s, then bought back the abandoned textile mill in 2004. He announced plans for the N.C. Research Campus in 2005.
Sheri Allen, who’s completing a master’s degree in public health, called Murdock an American success story and said she could apply his lessons to her own life.
“He didn’t just give up and accept sleeping on that park bench,” she said. “Opportunity knocked at his door and he knew what he should do with it.”
Students asked Murdock everything from what he eats for breakfast (blueberries and bran) to how he makes sure his business deals are fair.
“I’m interested in seeing it’s fairófirst for me,” he said. “You have to look after yourselves.”
Murdock, who still goes to work nearly every day, urged the students to think creatively. A health fanatic, he told them to eat better, get more sleep and exercise.
He still worries about failing, and it motivates him.
“Fear pervades me,” he said.
When the numbers first came in for the Research Campus, the project was $150 million over budget.
“I thought ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ ” Murdock said. “That slowed me down mentally, but I didn’t stop.”
His largest project, the campus includes the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, directed by Dr. Steve Zeisel. Murdock credited Zeisel with helping launch the campus.
“I probably wouldn’t be doing Kannapolis if he didn’t think it was such a great idea,” Murdock said.
Student Andrea Nikolai was already taking Murdock’s advice to “keep your eyes open for opportunity” when she introduced herself to him after class.
“I’m interested in an internship at Dole,” she told the Post. “This is an opportunity I wouldn’t want to miss.”
Contact Emily Ford at eford@salisburypost.com.