It is with great sorrow and tremendous respect that Finch Paper announces the passing of our friend and former Chairman, President and CEO Richard J. Carota.
Mr. Carota, the one-time union laborer who rose to become Paper Industry Executive of the Year, passed away on Saturday, July 10, 2010. He was 73 years old, and had determinedly fought an illness that began in September 2009.
Mr. Carota retired from Finch on February 2, 2009, after 53 years of service, 26 of which were served as the company’s chairman, president and CEO. He was the first person who was not a member of the founding families of Finch, Pruyn to be elected chairman, president and CEO of the now-145-year-old company. He was also one of the few former labor union officers to become the CEO of a major American paper manufacturer. In 1993, Mr. Carota was honored as the Paper Industry Executive of the Year by the Paper Industry Management Association.
"Dick Carota was an icon in the North American paper industry," said Finch Paper President and CEO Joseph F. Raccuia. "He was a blue-collar guy who rose to the executive ranks, but always remembered where he came from. He led the Finch mill through some of its most successful and most challenging times, and had an incredible knowledge of, and love for, this company and its products.
"Dick was Mr. Finch Paper for more than half a century, and he will be remembered for decades to come."
