Our Founders
Kenneth W. Ford and Hallie E. Ford
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Kenneth W. Ford1908-1997
In 1936, Kenneth W. Ford pursued a vision with a single sawmill in the southern Oregon community of Roseburg. From his tenacity grew Roseburg Forest Products Co., one of the largest, family-owned wood products manufacturers in the nation. The same ingenuity and capacity for hard work that brought Mr. Ford success in the business world also characterized his commitment to “building community.”
Hallie E. Ford1905-2007
Hallie E. Ford was a teacher. Like Kenneth, she believed in a complete and continuing education. Hallie was also a painter and, in later years, a patron of the visual arts. She left a legacy of support to the Oregon “arts ecology.”
In 1957, Kenneth Ford and Hallie Ford established a then-modest foundation to give back to the timber communities of southwest Oregon. It grew in size, scope, and geography to become The Ford Family Foundation in 1996, with its main office in Roseburg, Oregon, and its scholarship office in Eugene, Oregon.
Watch a four-minute video about The Ford Family Foundation:
