William F. Farley
{{Short description|American businessman (b. 1942)}}
William F. Farley (born October 10, 1942) is an American businessman, financier and philanthropist. He is the sole owner of Farley Industries, a private equity firm based in Chicago, and a co-owner of the Chicago White Sox. For 15 years (1985–99), he was the chairman and CEO of Fruit of the Loom until August 30, 1999. He is currently the founder, CEO and majority owner of Zrii, a multilevel marketing company based in Salt Lake City.
Biography
=Early life and education=
Farley was born the elder of two children to a working-class Irish Catholic family on October 10, 1942, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was the son of John Farley, a postal worker and part-time musician, and Barbara Farley, a receptionist.Chiappinelli, Bob (July 13, 1986). "Pawtucket's Horatio Alger" Providence Sunday Journal
Farley attended grade school at St. Leo's School in Pawtucket and later became a recruited high school athlete and student at St. Raphael Academy, his father's high school. He graduated from St. Raphael's in 1960.Klein, Amy (May 11, 1998). "School's benefactor renames building for his mother", The Providence Journal-Bulletin.
Farley graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 1964, where he majored in government and got an academic scholarship. At Bowdoin, he was a varsity athlete in football, swimming, and baseball.Sheridan, Mike (April 1986). "Profile: William F. Farley." Echelon Magazine.
Professional career
=Early years=
After graduating from Bowdoin, Farley traveled across the U.S. and Mexico for six months, eventually settling in Los Angeles.Labich, Kenneth (May 27, 1985). "Bill Farley Has A Dream Machine" Fortune In Los Angeles, Farley sold Collier's Encyclopedia door to door. Within two years he was nominated as the company's leading salesman and appointed head of training for the national sales force."Bill Farley Casts a Wide Net for Companies." Financial Enterprise Summer 1983
=NL Industries and Lehman Brothers=
After attending Boston College Law School, Farley moved to New York City, where he took a job in the mergers and acquisitions division of NL Industries, a manufacturing company with a number of subsidiaries. At NL Industries, Farley did analysis on potential acquisition targets and rose to director of long range planning and acquisitions. In 1972, Farley was transferred to Chicago, where he functioned as the regional manager of NL Industries' metals division.
=Farley Industries=
In 1976, while Farley was working at Lehman Brothers, NL Industries was searching for a potential buyer for Anaheim Citrus Products Co., a small subsidiary that produced pectin, a thickening agent used in foods and other products. In October 1976, at age 34, he executed his first leveraged buyout for almost two million dollars. To facilitate the buyout, Farley founded Farley Industries, a private holdings company headquartered in the Sears Tower in Chicago.Herguth, Bob (January 3, 1989). "Chicago Profile: William F. Farley" Chicago Sun-Times After six months, Farley had raised the funds for the buyout by half a million dollars of loans and notes borrowed against the company assets.Sheridan, Mike (April 1986). "Profile: William F. Farley." Echelon magazine
Within two years after the buyout, Farley had doubled Anaheim Citrus sales. In 1977, Farley purchased Baumfolder Corporation, a struggling manufacturing company, using funds from equipment sales at Anaheim Citrus. Farley quit Lehman Brothers and moved to Ohio to oversee the Baumfolder turnaround. He later sold Baumfolder to its employees for $10 million.
In 1982, Farley purchased NL Metals, the same group he used to run at NL. Farley Industries soon encompassed numerous companies within the manufacturing, mining and apparel industries. The largest acquisition was Northwest Industries for almost one-and-a-half billion dollars in July, 1985.C.S. (January 26, 1987). "The Buyout Man" U.S. News & World Report By the late 1980s Farley Industries had 50,000 employees and nearly four billion dollars in annual sales.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}
=West Point Pepperell=
In 1988, Farley completed a hostile takeover{{fact or opinion|date=April 2025}} of West Point Pepperell, Inc., a textile company that had been family-owned in West Point, Georgia, and surrounding communities for more than 100 years. Farley financed his purchase of the absolute majority of the company through bank debt and high-yield bonds.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-13-fi-423-story.html|title=A Major Deal Maker of the '80s Is Drowning in Debt in the '90s|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=1990-05-13}}{{dead link|date=April 2025}} Less than four years later, the company filed for bankruptcy, and Farley resigned.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/24/business/company-news-west-point-pepperell-buyer-steps-down-as-its-chairman.html|title=West Point Pepperell buyer steps down as its chairman|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2002-10-24}}
=Fruit of the Loom=
Although Farley eventually sold most businesses within the Farley/Northwest Holding Corp. conglomerate, he kept Fruit of the Loom Inc.{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/03/04/fruit-of-loom-back-as-farley-makes-changes/|title=Fruit Of Loom Back As Farley Makes Changes|newspaper=tribunedigital-chicagotribune|access-date=2016-11-13}}"Bill Farley: The Hands-On Conglomerator" Industry Week June 15, 1987. In March 1987, Farley completed a multimillion public offering of Fruit of the Loom shares.Delaney, Patricia (1997). "Farley Chair in Legal Studies Endowed" Boston College Chronicle
During his tenure at Fruit of the Loom Farley, the majority of Fruit of the Loom's manufacturing was moved outside of the US. In 1998 a class-action lawsuit by a New England–based health care employees pension fund alleged that Farley had misled investors to engage in insider trading.{{cite web |last1=MOGHAREI |first1=PHOEBE |title=From the Vault: Spoiled Fruit |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/October-2018/From-the-Vault-Spoiled-Fruit/ |website=Chicago Magazine |accessdate=23 August 2019}}
Farley served as president and CEO of Fruit of the Loom from 1985 to 1999, when he was forced to retire by the board of directors.{{cite web|url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2000/03/19/business/taking-the-starch-out-of-an-american-icon.html?referer=https://www.google.com|title=Taking the Starch Out Of an American Icon|website=Mobile.nytimes.com|accessdate=31 December 2017}}
=Zrii, LLC=
In May 2007, Farley launched "Zrii, LLC", a multi-level marketing health and beauty company based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Zrii, a Sanskrit word which means "light, luster, splendor, and prosperity", was endorsed by lifestyle guru Deepak Chopra and the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. The basis of its namesake product was a juice extracted from the amalaki fruit, which is grown exclusively in India at the base of the Himalayas.Harvey, Tom (May 23, 2008). "Draper Company Launches Zrii; Says It's A Healthful Juice" The Salt Lake Tribune
In February 2009, 35 employees staged a walkout{{fact or opinion|date=April 2025}} of Zrii headquarters and demanded that Farley resign.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}}. In December 2009, Farley won a settlement agreement with LifeVantage Corporation, where many of his former employees were hired.
Management style
Farley dedicated three million dollars a year to programs at his subsidiaries that encouraged physical fitness, good nutrition, and smoking cessation. He traveled to work sites and solicited employees' opinions about the quality of their food and facilities, making improvements as suggested by employees.
Farley installed baseball fields, tracks, and other fitness facilities at plants and factories.
Politics
Farley supports Republican political candidates.{{who else|date=April 2025}} In 2016 he donated over $10,000 to the Donald Trump Victory fund.{{cite web |title=SCHEDULE A (FEC Form 3X) |url=https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201704059052017750 |website=Federal Election Commission |accessdate=23 August 2019}}
Philanthropic activity
A firm believer in education, Farley has contributed millions of dollars to his alma maters. His largest single contribution was a three-and-a-half million dollars gift to Bowdoin College in 1984, which resulted in Farley Field House, an indoor athletic facility with a track, indoor tennis courts, and spectator areas."Farley Honored with Horatio Alger Award." Bowdoin Orient 1986.{{cite web|url=http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/information/facilities/files/farley |title=Bowdoin Athletics : William Farley Field House |publisher=Athletics.bowdoin.edu |date= |accessdate=2012-01-08}} He also founded scholarship programs for students at Boston College Law School,Brayton, Steve (January 27, 1985). "Kindness to Workers Farley's Key to Success", The Boston Herald. and made a donation to endow the William F. Farley Chair at the law school. In May 1996, Farley made a donation to his high school, St. Raphael Academy, which went toward science and computer resources, tuition assistance, and the athletic department."Alumni Give Back to SRA" The Pawtucket Times 1997.
In 1998 and in honor of Farley's contributions to the school, the West Annex Building at St. Raphael was renamed Barbara Farley Hall, in honor of Farley's mother.
Farley has made numerous contributions over the years to the American Heart Association, and he's been a donor to and board member of various civic and cultural organizations in his adopted hometown of Chicago, Illinois (including the Goodman Theatre, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations). He has also sat on the board of directors for the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Awards and honors
- 1984: Farley was recognized as Outstanding Business Graduate of the Year by the Boston College Law School Alumni Association.
- 1986: Farley received the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans award. The award was given to "community leaders who demonstrate individual initiative and a commitment to excellence, as exemplified by remarkable achievements accomplished through honesty, hard work, self-reliance and perseverance over adversity."{{cite web|url=http://www.horatioalger.com/aboutus.cfm |title=About Us|publisher=Horatio Alger|accessdate=2012-01-08}}
- 1988: Farley was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame;{{cite web|url=http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?act=list&crit=year&year=1998|title=Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame: Inductees from 1998|publisher=Riheritagehalloffame.org|accessdate=2012-01-08}} he was also honored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America as a Business/Community Honoree of the Year.
- 1997: Honored by the Ireland-U.S. Council for Commerce and Industry for outstanding achievement for his work in economics, business, and commercial activity. He also received the White House's Presidential Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
- 2008: Farley was honored with a Freedom Award from America's Freedom Festival at Provo at Provo.Davis, James (July 3, 2008). "Festival Salutes 4 Heroes", Deseret News.
Personal life
In the 1980s, Farley became a minority owner of the Chicago White Sox.
Farley was an active member in the Young Presidents' Organization; he has been a member of the World Presidents Organization as of late 90s. He has also been a member of the Chicago Club and the University Associates of Northwestern University.