Biography
of Charles A. Cannon
Mr.
Charles A. Cannon, one of North Carolina's most noted industrialists,
created The Cannon Foundation in 1943. It is one of four charitable
organizations established by the late Mr. Cannon. Of the four,
The Cannon Foundation, Inc. is the only general purpose foundation
which accepts unsolicited requests for grants; the three others
are charitable trusts that can make grants only to specifically
named beneficiaries.
Mr. Cannon
was born in Concord, North Carolina, in 1892. The youngest of
ten children, he attended Concord City Schools, Fishburne Military
Academy, and Davidson College. He also received honorary doctorates
from Presbyterian College, North Carolina State University, and
Duke University.
In 1911, after
one year at Davidson, he entered his father's textile business.
The following year, he married the late Ruth Louise Coltrane. The couple
had four children-the late William C. Cannon, the late Mariam Cannon Hayes,
the late Charles A. Cannon, Jr., and the late Mary Ruth Cannon Spencer.
Cannon assumed
his first executive job at the age of 19, when he was made manager
of Barringer Manufacturing Company in Rockwell, NC. In 1913, he
was made secretary and treasurer of the company. In 1916, he was
elected vice president of Cannon Manufacturing Company in Kannapolis,
and succeeded to the presidency in 1921.
He consolidated
the multiple Cannon manufacturing plants and companies into a
single corporate entity - The Cannon Mills Company. Cannon Mills
made history when it launched the world's first large-scale consumer
advertising sales campaign for the household textile industry,
and introduced color and other promotional innovations into the
textile industry.
Mr. Cannon
retired as president of Cannon Mills in 1962, but continued as
Chairman of the Board, spending part of each workday in his office
up until the day before his death on April 2, 1971. Active in
his industry, he was elected chairman of the Board of Governors
of the American Cotton Manufacturers Association and served in
this capacity during the critical period immediately following
World War II. As the Cannon Mills Company grew to almost 25,000
employees, he also served as chairman of the Special Cotton Committee
of the American Cotton Manufacturers Institute and was president
of the NC Cotton Manufacturers Association.
Even more
involved in his community, he served as chairman of the Board
of the Cabarrus Bank & Trust Company; director of the Federal
Reserve branch in Charlotte; director of New York Life Insurance
Company, trustee at Duke University, Davidson College and the
University of North Carolina; and member of the NC Highway Commission,
State Parks Commission, and Public Works Commission.
He was presented
the NC Citizens Association Distinguished Service Award in 1962,
named both the Kannapolis and Concord "Man of the Year,"
and was honored with an "Appreciation Day" by the citizens
of Kannapolis in 1967. In 1948, he was selected by the American
Hospital Association as one of 50 persons in the nation who had
made outstanding contributions to health care and hospitals. During
the Great Depression, Mr. Cannon personally persuaded the financial
leaders in New York City not to declare the state of North Carolina
bankrupt. The state met its obligations as he assured them it
would.
He is perhaps
best remembered, however, for his interest in the welfare of people
in his community. In 1917, years before industrial medicine or
nursing had become widespread, he convinced his father to employ
a nurse to safeguard the company's workers. He also made available
to all employees of Cannon Mills Company and to the children of
Cabarrus County, 100,000 free polio shots as soon as the vaccine
was available, 65,000 doses of Asian flu vaccine, and 40,000 of
tetanus toxoid.
Other than
his family and the Cannon Mills Company, Mr. Cannon's great love
was the Cabarrus Memorial Hospital, which he founded, and where
he served as chairman of the Board of Trustees for more than 30
years. He also served on the NC Medical Care Commission and the
NC Tuberculosis Sanatorium Commission.
