Continue to Site

Ex-Baldor chairman Boreham dies

By Plant Engineering Staff February 10, 2006

Roland S. Boreham, Jr., CEO of Baldor Electric Company from 1978 to 1981 and Chairman from 1981 through 2004, passed away on Sunday, February 5.

Mr. Boreham began his career with Baldor in 1947, working for his father, who was a Baldor grinder representative in Los Angeles.He moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, Baldor’s Corporate Headquarters, in 1961, and became Vice President of Sales in 1962.He was instrumental in developing Baldor’s network of District Offices and Warehouses, still in effect today, and one of Baldor’s major competitive advantages.

He developed Baldor’s Value Formula, which combines Quality and Service, and Cost and Time.This Formula is the center of Baldor’s day-to-day operations and defines our goal to create the most value available in the industry for our customers by increasing quality and service and decreasing cost and time.

In a release, the company said Mr. Boreham “will be remembered for his honesty, his ethics and his fairness to all.He was an extremely benevolent person, giving to many charities anonymously.He believed strongly in the value of education and gave substantially to many educational institutions, including the University of the Ozarks and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.”