Greenville: After 58 years at the helm, former Grady-White Boats CEO Eddie Smith Jr. has turned down multiple offers worth around $500 million to instead place the company into a perpetual purpose trust dedicated to philanthropy.
Smith, now in his 80s, took over Grady-White when it was near bankruptcy and built it into a nine-figure business. Revenues today average over $100 million per year. Known for working 80-100 hour weeks, he said he wanted to protect the culture he built rather than see it sold off.
“I just couldn’t bear the thought of that happening,” Smith told Fortune Magazine, which profiled him. “All of my CEO friends who sold their companies… lost their way. They lost their culture that they had built.”Instead of selling, Smith transferred controlling voting shares to a purpose trust with legal conditions that they never be sold. The trust will continue operating Grady-White according to his values, including profit sharing and major investments in employee education.
The non-voting shares were placed in a 501(c)4 social welfare organization. All profits from those shares will be donated to charitable causes focused on community service and conservation.
Smith said he was inspired by entrepreneurs like Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, who also restructured his company to fund environmental work. “I just think that those of us that are fortunate enough to be in a position to help others… It’s really a gift to me to be able to do what I do,” Smith said.
Smith grew up near the poverty line in North Carolina. His father was orphaned at age 10 during the Great Depression. Smith worked paper routes as a teen, became the first in his family to graduate college from the University of North Carolina in 1965, and later borrowed money to buy into Grady-White.
He stepped back from personal hobbies like golf for more than 30 years to focus on the business. Following the deaths of his wife and son to ALS, Smith said the decision to forgo a sale became clearer.
The move places Grady-White among a small group of U.S. companies using purpose trusts to lock in mission-driven ownership long-term.
