Thomas Anderson Roe Jr. (1927–2000) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and conservative activist.[1][2]
Roe was born in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina.[2] He graduated from Furman University in 1948, and worked as a research assistant in their cancer center, which was sponsored by a grant from the Carnegie Foundation.[1][2] He received a business degree from La Salle Extension University and a certificate in advanced studies from the Brookings Institution Program on Urban Policy.[1]
In 1961, he inherited the Citizens Lumber Company from his late father, and renamed it Builder Marts of America.[1][2] It became a Forbes 500 company.[2] It was later purchased by Guardian Industries. He started a telecommunications company for long-distance calls, later purchased by MCI Inc.[2] He also served as vice president of American Holdings, a firm with ice cream, refrigerator, and furniture manufacturing interests in the United States, along with land holding and air cargo operations in the Dominican Republic.[1]
He served as vice chairman and finance chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, and a member of the Republican National Finance Committee.[2] He was a delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention, where he supported Barry Goldwater.[2] Later, he became an advisor to Ronald Reagan.[2]
He served on the boards of The Heritage Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Free Congress Foundation, the Council for National Policy, the International Policy Forum, and the now-defunct National Empowerment Television.[2][3] In 1986, he founded the South Carolina Policy Council, a free-market think tank.[2][4][5] By 1992, the State Policy Network (SPN) was born.[2] The Roe Award, awarded by the State Policy Network, is named for him.[1] He received the Clare Boothe Luce Award from The Heritage Foundation in 1999.[1]
He founded the Roe Foundation.[2][3] Its board includes his wife Shirley Roe (chairman), Edwin Feulner (vice chairman; chairman of the Heritage Foundation), Carl Helstrom (chairman of the SPN), Tracie Sharp (president of the SPN, and Thomas Willcox, his son-in-law.[2] Should the foundation stray from free-market principles, both the Mont Pelerin Society and the Philadelphia Society will sue and act as defendants.[2]
The Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation is named for him.[1][6][7]
He also donated to the South Carolina Medical Association, the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, and the Peace Center.[2] His donations to his alma mater, Furman University, led to the construction of The Thomas Anderson Roe Building on its campus, named in his honor.[2][8] He received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Furman University in 1980 and the Order of the Palmetto of the State of South Carolina in 1995.[1]
He was married to Shirley Roe.[2] They attended the Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina.[2] He died in 2000.[1]
