Prominent Greensboro businessman and philanthropist Ceasar Cone II was born into the textile industry by virtue of the fact that his father was co-founder of Cone Mills. Ceasar Cone II was president and chairman of Cone Mills from 1956- 1973. In that position, he carried on the Cone family's tradition of making his sure mill workers had a good quality of life. Like his father, Mr. Cone II was known for his generosity to the Greensboro community and to valuing the inherent worth and dignity of all people. As one example, in 1939-- well before the Civil Rights Movement, Mr. Cone II donated $50,000 towards building Greensboro's first YMCA for African-American citizens. He named the facility the Hayes-Taylor YMCA to honor his cook, Ms. Sallie Hayes and his butler, Mr. Andrew Taylor (reference). That branch of the Y continues to thrive in East Greensboro today.
Mr. Cone II cast the philanthropy net far and wide throughout his life. In addition to the Y, another example is his contributing to the Elliot University Student Center at UNCG in the early 1940's. In the last year of his life, in 1986, Ceasar Cone II and his wife Martha established the Cemala Foundation "to continue the family tradition of commitment to enhancing the quality of life of the community through grants to qualified charitable organizations" (reference). Infusing meaning in nearly everything they did, the Cones named the foundation for the first two letters of the first names of their children: CE-asar, MA-rtha, and LA-wrence. The above photo of the portraits of Ceasar Cone II and his wife Martha was taken in the board/conference room of the Cemala Foundation. The building in which Cemala is housed (330 South Greene Street) is important in its own right. It is where his father and uncle opened Cone Export and Commissions, the precursor to Cone Mills.
Today is ABC Wednesday and "C" is for "Cone," Ceasar II (and Martha) Cone. See previous alphabet days here.
The rich wooden paneling and lovely original paintings scream "old money" and success! Glad philanthropy was part of the story, too!
Posted by: Leif Hagen | Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 08:43 AM
Beautiful paintings. I want to have a painting as beautiful as that.
Posted by: Cassy | Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Wow, what an office. Up until now when I say "cone" I was talking about an ice cream cone. lol
Posted by: Jose | Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Good for them.
Posted by: Jack | Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 02:49 PM
I enjoy reading stories of people who share their wealth.
Posted by: EG Wow | Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at 04:18 PM
hail Caesar!
ROG, ABC WEDNESDAY team
Posted by: Roger Green | Thursday, August 04, 2011 at 06:25 AM
Wow - very impressive
Posted by: Jo Bryant | Sunday, August 07, 2011 at 07:02 PM