John S. Brandis 1915-1972

Born April 6, 1915, in Aberdeen, With a new degree under his arm, Brandis , a town near the formed his own logging operation. In greatest stand of Douglas fir ever found in 1945 he joined Willamette Industries and the Pacific Northwest. John S. Brandis served as Vice President of timber. In spent his life in the timber industry. He 1954 he formed Plywood Products worked his way from being a rigging Corporation. His idea for making slinger to being one of the top timber plywood by utilizing low grade timber executives in the country. created the largest sheathing plywood manufacturing complex in the industry. After high school, Brandis exchanged the Plywood Products was acquired by West Coast for the East Coast when he Georgia-Pacific when he became a Vice enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy in President. Annapolis, Maryland. After one year, however, he returned to the Pacific During his tenure with Georgia-Pacific, Northwest and attended State Brandis was credited with helping to University where he was graduated in structure the company into a position of 1938 with a degree in Logging leadership among forest products Engineering. While at OSU he lettered in industries. He was instrumental in the football and track, and was president of acquisition of several manufacturing both the OSU Letterman’s Association and operations and timber holdings for the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. Subsequent company. Before he left Georgia-Pacific, to graduation, he married Evelyn Fosse, a he had risen to the position of Executive graduate of the University of Washington. Vice President. During this period Gerry Pratt, writing as Business Editor of , once described Brandis as “a rare combination of a powerful executive of the founders of the Western Forestry talent and a 240-pound logger” who Center (now the World Forestry Center) knows the industry from top to bottom. and was the first chairman of its board. He was also in charge of the Muscular In January of 1964, Brandis left Georgia- Dystrophy Drive and a United Good Pacific and organized his own company, Neighbors Fund Drive for Advance Gifts. Brand-S Corporation. From its inception until his death in 1972, his holdings Professionally he served as a director of included plywood and veneer plants in the American Plywood Association, as a Corvallis and Eugene, sawmills in director of the Industrial Forestry Portland and Livingston, Montana. Association, and as president of the Columbia River Log Scaling and Grading During his lifetime Brandis performed Bureau. countless generous deeds, many of which were little known. As an industrialist, he He also found time to be finance chairman felt responsible for sharing his for the Republican Committee of Oregon, productivity with those who needed it. He to be chairman of the board of the Zoo contributed to churches, hospitals, Portland Railway and director of both the universities and many other worthy Portland Symphony Society and the institutions and causes. In 1964 when Japanese Garden Society. He was also a Alaska suffered the devastating Good Port of Portland Commissioner for five Friday earthquake, Brandis organized the years. Alaska-Aid Committee which shipped lumber, plywood, and other building In addition, he was active socially in the materials to the people of Alaska as a gift Waverley Country Club, La Quinta to assist in rebuilding. For his efforts, Country Club, the University and Crow’s Forest Products Digest picked him Arlington clubs, Rotary, B.P.O.E., as “Lumberman of the Year” and Masonic Lodge, Shrine and Scottish Rite. described him as a “genuine humanist” when he saw the opportunity for public Brandis, who was known as Jack to his service. many friends, was a family man with a deep Christian faith. He and his wife Some of the other ways in which he served Evelyn had three children, John Jr., and were as the chairman of the Board of daughters Gail and Susan. He died of Trustees of the Oregon State Foundation, cancer at his home in Portland on as a trustee of Linfield College, and as a November 25, 1972, at the age of 57. regent of Mt. Angel College. He was one