10 August 2011
In Memorium for Ray Anderson
Posted by Admin under: Leadership; People; Sustainability .
Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial carpet, and a sustainability champion, died on Monday, August 8.
In announcing his passing, Dan Hendrix wrote:
Ray waged an epic battle against cancer that reflected his strong spirit and his tenacity. Our time with him was too short, but the time that he had was enough to see his family grow, to welcome his first great-grandchild, to see not just one vision but two become real: to see his business flourish and his vision of a sustainable Interface become a beacon for other companies to follow. We’d have liked to see Ray standing beside us as we reach that metaphorical peak — the top of Mt. Sustainability — but rest assured that we will stay the course and keep Ray’s vision alive.
You are invited to add your comments at Ray Anderson’s posthumous blog. Here were mine:
Ray spoke at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the fall of 2006, and his talk and the ensuing conversation led to my beginning a fourth or fifth career, leading an incubator for sustainable businesses. His work was courageous and smart and it paid off not only for Interface but also for the rest of us; he showed business and political leaders a way that businesses could become less wasteful and less harmful—and make money doing it.
His visionary leadership also inspired two conferences, much writing, and the creation of the Sustainable Leadership Forum and theSustainable Leadership Network, a peer networking group for sustainability leaders in both business and the community. His legacy lives on, perhaps in ways he never knew but probably imagined.