The Oldest Boss

Vermilion's chairman at 99

Although confined to a wheelchair, with failing eyesight and hearing, J. Fred Boyd has no notion of quitting as chairman of Vermilion Bay Land, a Louisiana oil-and-gas company he helped start 39 years ago. He gets monthly reports on company affairs, and attended all three of the company's board meetings last year. Last week in Detroit, he attended his 50th consecutive annual meeting, where he was elected to his 13th term as chairman. The only thing unusual about all this is that he is 99 years old.

Boyd began his career in the early 1900s, selling typewriters. He later opened an office-supply business in Muskegon, Mich., and was that city's first Ford dealer. In 1928 he invested in the Mount Forest Fur Farms of America, which raised muskrats. The company went bankrupt in 1931. He helped reorganize the failed firm as Vermilion Bay, and the company struck it rich when oil and gas were later discovered on the Louisiana muskrat farm. Vermilion now collects royalties on 60,000 acres of land in Louisiana. Last year the company had profits of $1.6 million on sales of $6.2 million. It has only four employees and obviously no mandatory retirement age. Vermilion has a pension plan, but Boyd is not included.

With C.W Sunday, 61, handling the firm's daily responsibilities as president, Boyd's position has rarely been challenged, and he is still consulted on major decisions. Last year John Augustine, a Michigan stockbroker, was soundly defeated in his bid for a director's seat because of his failure to win Boyd's approval. This year Boyd's only opposition was a shareholder who circled the chairman's age in the proxy and wrote: "This is absurd." Boyd, who, with his wife Helen, is the second largest shareholder, with a 16.4% stake, won re-election with 84% of the voting stock. On Oct. 25, American business is due to get the first known centenarian chairman of the board. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.