Dortch Oldham, who helped turn Nashville's Southwestern Co. into a sales dynamo that influenced the lives of thousands of young people who worked for it during college, passed away Thursday after a long illness. He was 89.
Born into humble circumstances in the farming community of Pleasant Shade, Tenn., Oldham hitchhiked to Nashville at the age of 16 with a few dollars in his pocket and a notion to go to work selling bibles door-to-door for Southwestern, one of the city's oldest companies.
Thirty years later, as chairman, CEO and majority owner of Southwestern, he and fellow shareholders sold it to the Times Mirror Co. for a reported $17 million.
Oldham came home from the Second World War to work as a sales manager at Southwestern. He and a fellow manager, Fred Landers, helped engineer dramatic growth in the business, which branched out from bibles to sales of a variety of educational books. Its collegiate sales force numbered as high as 5,000 in some summers.
To read the entire City Paper article, click here.
Additional links:
Southwestern Company Alumni Blog, posted Feb. 26, 2009, click here.
WZTV Fox 17, Nashville, TN, Feb. 27, 2009, click here.
WHNT NewsChannel 19 CBS, Huntsville, AL, Feb. 27, 2009, click here.
WVLT-TV Channel 8 CBS, Knoxville, TN, Feb. 27, 2009, click here.
WREG-TV NewsChannel 3 CBS, Memphis, TN, Feb. 27, 2009, click here.
WMC-TV Action News Channel 5, Memphis, TN, Feb. 27, 2009, click here.
Nashville Post: "Dortch Oldham dies at 89: GOP stalwart and former Southwestern Co. CEO shaped many lives," February 27, 2009 (subscription only) click here.
The Daily Times, Maryville, TN, February 27, 2009, click here.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, March 1, 2009, click here.
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