MARSHALL RAUCH.

AuthorInfanzon, Vanessa

In his 97 years, Marshall Rauch has never lost his Long Island, N.Y., accent, but he's undoubtedly earned his North Carolinian status after moving to Durham in 1940 to attend Duke University and spending his life making a huge mark on the state.

Several high school friends had told him how much they enjoyed Duke. So he headed south and joined the basketball team as a walk-on and met his future wife, Jeanne Girard of Gastonia. World War II interrupted his college experience, as he enlisted in the Air Corps Reserves but was moved to the Black Panther unit of the 66th Infantry Division.

Upon his return, Rauch joined the Girard family's textile business in Bessemer City in Gaston County rather than finish at Duke. He then started Pyramid Milk on the side, eventually going out on his own. A big break came in 1963 when the then-powerful Spiegel Catalog Co. placed an order for Christmas ornaments wound with rayon thread. With an $800 investment in a newly designed metal device, Rauch produced 300,000 boxes packed with a dozen ornaments each.

From that start, Rauch Industries was, for a period, the world's largest Christmas ornament producer, quite an irony given the founder's Jewish roots. It went public in 1983 and was acquired by East Boston, Mass.-based Syratech for about $50 million in 1996. Business declined following the acquisition, and ownership later changed hands. No ornament manufacturing remains in Gastonia.

Business was a fraction of Rauch's overall impact. He used leadership posts at both the YMCA and city council to boost inclusion of blacks and Jewish people in Gastonia affairs. A lifelong Democrat, he also served as a state senator for 24 years. He invested in various ventures, including Edgeway Pharmacy, which is now run by his grandson, Julian Rauch.

His best investment may have been in an employment company called One Two Three Hire, which was about to collapse when a new owner, Ric Elias, stepped up. He offered Rauch $1,000 for his stake, which Rauch declined, then followed up two years later with a $3,500 offer. Rauch held on and decided to visit the company, which transformed into Red Ventures, an Indian Land, S.C.-based digital marketing firm with more than 3,000 workers in 12 offices. CEO Elias "is now one of my best friends," says Rauch, though he no longer owns shares in the company.

He talked about war, business and politics in comments edited for length and clarity.

I was given the Combat Infantry Badge and the Bronze...

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