A major UNC donor and alumnus drew national attention to his company and philanthropy this week, as he announce he would donate all future profits from his successful sport fishing boat business to charity.
Eddie Smith Jr., the longtime owner and CEO of the Greenville, N.C.-based Grady-White Boats, announced through the New York Times that he is transferring his ownership and control of the marine manufacturing company to a perpetual purpose trust handled by the charity Purpose Owned. The move will let a future, related 501(c)(4) nonprofit donate millions of dollars annually to the causes of Smith’s choice: education, healthcare, environmental conservation and the Greenville community.
According to the company, the business transition is the largest in the country since outdoor apparel company Patagonia made a similar donation in 2022 and marks the first time a marine industry company will be run by a purpose trust.
Smith, who graduated Carolina in 1965, has long made donations to the university and its athletics programs part of his family legacy. In honor of his father, Edward Smith Sr. who also graduated from UNC, Smith Jr. provided the funding for the Eddie Smith Field House on south campus, which opened in 2001 and is home to the indoor track facility and track and field offices. In May 2020, the Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Family Foundation set a new benchmark for gifts to the Rams Club: an undisclosed amount to support the Tar Heel football program under head coach Mack Brown through funding for staffing, facility improvements and an endowment to cover operating costs.
The gift saw the field at Kenan Memorial Stadium renamed after Smith’s son, Chris Smith — who himself was a Class of 1987 UNC alumnus and served on the Rams Club’s Executive Board of Directors. The family also made significant donations to the UNC School of Medicine, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, the UNC College of Arts & Sciences, the university’s library system and several student scholarships.
UNC football games at Kenan Memorial Stadium are played on Chris Smith Field, which was renamed before the 2020 season following the Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Foundation’s gift, which the university called “transformational.” (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
In the New York Times piece, Smith said he considered selling Grady-White Boats after Chris Smith died in 2021 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Despite field offers ranging up to $400 million, the 83-year-old decided to turn the company over to Purpose Owned instead to ensure it kept the same culture and spirit for its employees — and could continue to support the causes Smith cares about.
“Many of my friends in the boating industry have sold their companies and none of them are happy with about what happened to their companies after the sale,” Smith said in a video posted by the company. “Their companies just lost their way. They lost their soul. And I certainly did not want that to happen to Grady-White.”
By putting the voting shares of Grady-White into the trust, the boat manufacturing business will be able to stay independent and unable to be sold — keeping continuity for its 350 employees, who also received significant bonuses as part of Smith’s announcement. The non-voting shares will be moved to a nonprofit that will oversee the philanthropic work done with Grady-White’s profits, all without Smith’s direct involvement. As the UNC alumnus enters a CEO emeritus role, the company’s executive team will stay in place and create a new leadership structure.
It was only a few years after Smith graduated from UNC when he bought and took over Grady-White Boats, which was a struggling company. Through his leadership, commitment to his staff, and the business’ attention to quality, it steadily became a leader in building and selling high-end recreational fishing boats. In addition to the recognition earned for Grady-White’s products, Smith also gained attention for his treatment of employees. According to the North Carolina Department of Labor, which awarded Smith with its Order of the Tar Heel earlier this summer, Grady-White was the first boat manufacturer in the state to install air conditioning in its production facility and help set a new standard for working conditions in the industry.
Read more about Smith’s donation of Grady-White Boats and its transition to Perpetual Purpose Trust on the business’ website.
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