George Corydon Wagner, Jr
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George Corydon Wagner, Jr. 1895-1979 George Corydon Wagner, Jr. used the name He was born in Tacoma, Washington, in Corydon Wagner. “George” was generally 1895. His mother, Heartie Dimock Griggs, reserved for his well-known father, Dr. was the daughter of Colonel Chauncey George Corydon Wagner, though both men Wright Griggs, one of the four founders of lived with distinction, fulfilling their the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. individual commitments to the same Cordy (as everyone soon called him) grew community. up in Tacoma, where he was to live most of his life. After attending The Taft School, Most people knew Corydon Wagner as a Watertown Connecticut, he enrolled at Yale lumber executive, dedicated to the industry; University and graduated in uniform (Class many recognized him on the golf links, for of 1916) having joined the army. He served he played like a champion; others met him nine months overseas as a Lieutenant with at Yale, a school he steadfastly supported; a the 347th Field Artillery. certain percentage of them served with him in the army – veterans who kept in touch at At the close of World War I, Corydon a Last Man’s Club; and a good number still Wagner returned to Yale for a degree in solicit The Wagner Fund, a family Forestry. Before long, he was back in charitable foundation initiated by him. Tacoma to begin a career in the lumber business with the St. Paul & Tacoma Corydon Wagner’s activities, just as his Lumber Company, first applying his talents friends and business associates, were varied as plant timekeeper. Perhaps two important and almost endless; so it’s easy to see how factors triggered his success. Cordy his life was laced with accomplishments. Wagner believed in himself and he believed in forestry. In 1925, he distinguished himself as head of the company’s Atlantic state of development, early in 1977, Merrill Coast Sales Office. By 1930, at the home & Wagner, Ltd. was sold to Weldwood of base, he was in charge of Finance, Canada, Ltd. Manufacturing, and Sales, and had advanced to Vice President and Treasurer, About the time Merrill & Wagner, Ltd. was two posts that he resigned from in 1958 formed, another Wagner firm appeared – when St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company Cariboo Pacific Corporation, established as merged into the St. Regis Paper Company. the United States sales outlet for Canadian products. Mr. Wagner was Chairman of the Of course, for Cordy Wagner, this Board of Directors at Cariboo-Pacific until departure from a prominent position did not his death in 1979. signal inactivity or uninvolvement – he was not one to be cabined and confined. He Some of the other business activities to participated in the lumber industry where which Mr. Wagner contributed his multiple he was a familiar figure, respected for his skills and advice were: The R.D. Merrill vast knowledge and years of experience. Company, Merrill & Ring, Inc., and Merrill Corydon Wagner had an exceptionally & Ring Canadian Properties, Incorporated. innovative and retentive mind. Not long after he left St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Besides his distinguished lumber industry Company, he became principal founder of career, Mr. Wagner was associated as a Merrill & Wagner, Ltd., a timber Director with several publicly owned firms, processing, lumber and veneer among which were the Winthrop Hotel manufacturer in the Cariboo District of Corporation and the Consumers Central British Columbia. Merrill & Wagner, Ltd. Heating Corporation. He was also Director came into being through the acquisition of of Booth Kelly Lumber Company until its several British Columbia timber and small merger with Georgia-Pacific. Cordy was sawmill operations, but it was through the particularly proud of his relationship with combined efforts of Mr. Wagner and his Tacoma’s Puget Sound National Bank. He son, Corydon Wagner III (generally known was on their Board of Directors for 35 as Cordy, Jr.) over a period of three or four years, and afterwards, he served for several years, that production started at Merrill & years on the Bank’s Advisory Board. Wagner, Ltd. With exemplary teamwork, these two men provided the base for the His long-standing membership on the company’s inception as well as its Board of Directors of Tacoma General expansion. Mr. Wagner, acting as Hospital was also very rewarding to him, Chairman, looked for future growth, while inasmuch as the hospital established itself Cordy, Jr. as President, attended more often during his tenure as one of the outstanding to the daily operations. Under this father- health facilities in the Northwest. In son leadership, the business grew from a addition, he served a term as Hospital rather small concern to an organization that President. employed well over 500 people, controlled substantial timber rights, and owned a very He was a past President of the Tacoma modern sawmill and veneer plant at Area Chamber of Commerce and for four Williams Lake, British Columbia. At that years, as a Director of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, he was the students interested in the Forestry program spokesman for our country’s natural at Yale University. resources. He was an active member of the First During his lifetime, Mr. Wagner held Congregational Church. He belonged to the memberships in many industry Tacoma Club, Seattle’s University Club, organizations, such as: West Coast the Yale Clubs of New York City and Lumbermen’s Association, National Western Washington, plus its St. Elmo Lumber Manufacturers Association, Society and Aurelian Honor Society. He Western Forestry and Conservation was a member of Sigma XI, the scientific Association, and the Industrial Forestry research society. Association, serving all in executive capacities. Another lifetime interest was golf. Lumberman Wagner started as a ten-year- As early as 1935, Corydon Wagner was old caddy at the Tacoma Country and Golf named Chairman of the Trade Promotion Club in 1906, the year the club moved to Committee for the West Coast the present location. Cordy carried the Lumbermen’s Association. In 1937, he was club’s longest standing membership, dating among three men in our nation to be from World War I days. At his best, he selected by the Oberlaender Trust, a United played to a four handicap. He won the States-Germany cultural exchange Washington State Seniors’ Golf foundation, to travel through Central Association Championship in 1955, the first Europe to study forest products utilization. time he played in its tournament. He was a Mr. Wagner was a United States delegate to U.S. Golf Association rules committeeman the Third World Forestry Conference in for several years. But it was with the Helsinki, Finland, in 1949; and in 1954, he seniors that he especially endeared himself. was the U.S. Delegate to the Fourth In 1952, he joined the Seniors Northwest Forestry Congress in Dehra Dun, India. Golf Association, a 300-man group from During 1958-59, he represented the United Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. States as a delegate to the sixteenth and He won the championship in 1956, and was seventeenth sessions of the Timber president in 1966. Cordy Wagner also Committee of the United Nations Economic belonged to the Union Club of Victoria, Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. He British Columbia; two California clubs – was also engaged as Chairman of the Host The Valley Club of Montecito, Santa and Finance Committees and Vice Barbara, and the Thunderbird Country Club Chairman of the United States Delegation at Rancho Mirage. to the Fifth World Forestry Congress held in Seattle, Washington, in 1960. Cordy was a member of the Chesapeake Club, for he owned two chesapeakes, Cordy Wagner was always ready to support friends as well as watchdogs, who were and to give. Being a staunch proponent of eager in all seasons to accompany him on his alma mater, he gave both time and walks about Lakewold, the Wagner’s money towards creating the Hugh Brady woodsy old country place on Gravelly Scholarship Fund, which aids young Lake, nationally renowned for its beautiful grounds and diversified gardens. Cordy’s great love for trees has lasting evidence in On Sunday, December 16, 1979, Mr. and his own grove of favorite specimens, either Mrs. Corydon Wagner attended church rare or uncommon to the area, many of services at the First Congregational Church which he had collected during visits around on South J Street, in Tacoma. Mr. Wagner the world. These he transplanted along the died at home shortly thereafter. During the edge of a sward sloping to the lake. From memorial services, the Reverend Edelen 1967 to 1979, his name was on the roster of delivered an unforgettable and remarkably the International Dendrology Society of simple eulogy. Probably everyone who London. The Rhododendron Species knew Cordy cherishes the same thoughts. Foundation was still another organization to George Corydon Wagner, Jr. was truly a which he was devoted and served for many Renaissance man. He was a credit to years. forestry, to the lumber industry, and, in general, to all mankind. As an octogenarian, Corydon Wagner had more time to work on the Wagner and Mr. Wagner had been married over 55 Griggs genealogical trees. (He wanted to years to the former Eulalie Merrill. They make sure his three children and eleven had one son, George Corydon, III, and two grandchildren remembered their ancestry). daughters, Wendy (Mrs. George H. Cordy’s penchant for history never altered. Weyerhaeuser) and Merrill (Mrs. Robert It was his wish to preserve the whole story Ryman). of the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, and this wish has come true, primarily due to his own endeavors, for he was the chief catalyst in raising the necessary funds to commission the noted historian, Murray Morgan, for the job.