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Oral history interview with Edgar S. Woolard Jr.

  • 1999-Jun-10

Oral history interview with Edgar S. Woolard Jr.

  • 1999-Jun-10

Edgar Woolard begins the interview with a description of his family and childhood years in Washington, North Carolina. Woolard's parents encouraged him to excel in both academic and social environments. As a high-school student, Woolard held an interest in mathematics. After graduation, Woolard enrolled in North Carolina State University as a nuclear engineering major. Woolard enjoyed college life and was involved in several extra-curricular activities, including serving as house manager for his fraternity. In his junior year, he switched his major to industrial engineering and received his BS in this field in 1956. Shortly after graduating from NC State, Woolard married his junior-high-school sweetheart and accepted a position at Alcoa in Maryville, Tennessee. Woolard left Alcoa after one year to serve a six-month term in the US Army. Upon his return, he was offered a job at DuPont in industrial engineering. After two years, he was promoted into management as a supervisor, a position that Woolard relished. He quickly rose through the ranks at DuPont, gaining valuable learning experiences from each promotion. Woolard entered DuPont's Planning Division in 1976, where he oversaw many breakthroughs in DuPont polymers, especially Dacron production. Throughout his career, Woolard helped shape DuPont into a more streamlined and environmentally friendly company. In the late 1970s, DuPont responded to a spike in oil prices and high inflation by reducing senior management and combining departments. In 1983, under DuPont's new system, Woolard was given responsibility for three departments: Agricultural Chemicals Division, Medical Division, and Photo Products Division. He served in that capacity for three years before becoming Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. Woolard became CEO in 1987 and worked to both streamline and evenly downsize DuPont for the good of the company. Although this period was difficult, his efforts proved successful for both DuPont and its employees. For his earnest reorganization of DuPont, Woolard received the Chemical Industry Medal in 1998. Woolard concluded the interview with a discussion of DuPont's major achievements during his career, retirement, and thoughts on his family.

Property Value
Interviewee
Interviewer
Sponsor
Place of interview
Format
Genre
Extent
  • 39 pages
  • 02:59:00
Language
Subject
Rights Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Rights holder
  • Science History Institute
Credit line
  • Courtesy of Science History Institute

About the Interviewer

James G. Traynham is a professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Northwestern University. He joined Louisiana State University in 1953 and served as chemistry department chairperson from 1968 to 1973. He was chairman of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1988 and is currently councilor of the Baton Rouge section of the American Chemical Society. He was a member of the American Chemical Society’s Joint-Board Council on Chemistry and Public Affairs, as well as a member of the Society’s Committees on Science, Chemical Education, and Organic Chemistry Nomenclature. He has written over 90 publications, including a book on organic nomenclature and a book on the history of organic chemistry.

Institutional location

Department
Collection
Oral history number 0182
Physical container
  • Shelfmark QD22.W665 A5 1999

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Interviewee biographical information

Born
  • April 15, 1934
  • Washington, North Carolina, United States
Died
  • December 04, 2023
  • Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States

Education

Year Institution Degree Discipline
1956 North Carolina State University BS Industrial Engineering

Professional Experience

Aluminum Company of America

  • 1956 to 1957 Industrial engineering

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company

  • 1957 to 1959 Industrial Engineer
  • 1959 to 1962 Group Supervisor, industrial engineering
  • 1962 to 1964 Supervisor, manufacturing section
  • 1964 to 1965 Planning Supervisor
  • 1965 to 1966 Staff Assistant to Production Manager
  • 1966 to 1969 Production Supervisor
  • 1969 to 1970 Engineering Supervisor
  • 1970 to 1971 Assistant Plant Manager
  • 1971 to 1973 Plant Manager
  • 1973 to 1975 Director, Product Marketing Division
  • 1975 to 1976 Managing Director, Textile Marketing Division
  • 1976 to 1977 Manager, Corporate Planning
  • 1977 to 1978 General Director, Products and Planning Department
  • 1978 to 1981 General Manager, Textile Fibers
  • 1981 to 1983 Vice President
  • 1983 to 1985 Executive Vice President
  • 1985 to 1987 Vice Chairman
  • 1987 to 1989 President and Chief Operating Officer
  • 1989 to 1996 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
  • 1996 to 1998 Chairman

Honors

Year(s) Award
1995 International Palladium Medal, Society of Chemical Industry
1998 Chemical Industry Medal, Society of Chemical Industry

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PDF — 316 KB
woolard_es_jr_0182_FULL.pdf

The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.

Complete Interview Audio File Web-quality download

4 Separate Interview Segments Archival-quality downloads