Milliken's final wishes revealed

By Cindy Landrum  

FEBRUARY 19, 2011 3:19 p.m. (0)

There’s dignity in work, the late Roger Milliken told his descendants in a letter written on Milliken & Co. letterhead in 2001 and included in his 111-page will filed in Spartanburg County Probate Court.

The late textile magnate, who ran the day-to-day operations of his family’s textile empire until he was 90 and remained chairman of the board until his death last December at the age of 95, said in the two-page letter he hoped trusts he established would generate enough income to enable his descendants to actively pursue any career.

But, he wrote he hoped the trusts did not provide so much income that his five children and nine grandchildren would do nothing of consequence. He wanted the money to enable them to achieve true self-fulfillment and the happiness that flows there from.

The will filed late last month did not disclose the worth of the trusts or the rest of Milliken’s estate.

Milliken was a mainstay on Forbes magazine’s list of America’s richest people. The magazine estimated his net worth at up to $1 billion.

Milliken took over Milliken & Co. in 1947 after the death of his father and built it into the largest private textile company in the world. The company has 47 locations throughout the globe and manufactures about 19,000 textile and chemical products, including those that give tennis balls their soft texture and Jell-O pudding its creamy smoothness.

The late textile magnate said in his will that the Milliken interests – Milliken & Co., Pacolet Milliken Enterprises and any corporation in which either owned a controlling interest such as Baskahagen Corp. – shall remain privately owned businesses.

Many believe that not having to answer to Wall Street is one reason Milliken & Co. could invest heavily in research and development. Milliken flourished while many other textile companies went out of business.

“The experience of Milliken interests since 1865 has proven the wisdom of retaining privately owned business enterprises,” Milliken said in his will. “I believe quality people, quality products, quality management, quality tools, quality service, quality research and the careful husbandry of capital can produce comparable benefits to stockholders over the long term future.”

In the will, Milliken says no change of circumstances and laws – including tax laws – shall warrant deviating from his intentions.

A corporate merger or restructuring should not dilute or decrease the percentage of interest of the descendants of Milliken’s parents, according to the will.

Milliken’s will said his wishes should be kept unless it is no longer feasible to carry out his directions due to developments or circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen at his death. He wrote that the price at which shares in Milliken could be sold does not constitute an unforeseeable circumstance.

Milliken established trusts for his five children – Justine Russell, Nancy Milliken, Roger Milliken Jr., David Milliken and Weston Milliken.

The trustees of those trusts should lean toward conservative investments and “should not gamble,” according to the will.

“At an early date, my father began planning for a way to make possible the passing of wealth from one generation to another,” the will said.

Milliken said in the will he sought to be a good steward of the benefits he received from trusts established for him by his parents and of the assets he was “fortunate to earn” during his business and investment career.

In the will, Milliken said it is the responsibility of the senior generation to take care of the needs of their children and grandchildren.

In addition, it was his intention and goal to motivate all of his beneficiaries to endeavor to provide for themselves, the will said.

Milliken’s lineal descendants must be 30 years old to qualify as a designated beneficiary and must be 40 years old before receiving any income from any trust, according to the will.

Milliken’s children will get 10 percent of the trust’s income at age 40 and that increases to 50 percent at age 44 and to all of the net income by the age of 49.

“There is dignity in work – a satisfaction in accomplishments produced through commitment – and a fulfillment that comes from engaging in life and challenging yourself to gainfully and passionately take advantage of your full abilities and talents and your special opportunities to do so,” he wrote to his descendants. “I also hope that when your life is over, you will have had a lot of the fun of accomplishment and its rewards, have been a good steward of your inherited resources, and will be passing them on in a strong state to your descendants.”

Milliken directed that executors distribute his personal property to the persons or charitable organizations designated by him in written statements, which were not included in the will.

Personal property he did not specifically designate to go to a specific person or charity will be divided into equal shares, according to the will.

He directed the family to use a special bequeath to Russell to maintain the family’s interest in Yeaman Hall Club, a private golf club near Charleston, for four years while they decide what to do with it.The will also said Milliken’s units in Westward Way in Northeast Harbor Maine not be subdivided, even if the law would allow.