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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Longtime
Vulcan Materials executive and civic leader William R. Ireland
Sr. of Birmingham will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws
degree from Birmingham-Southern College during ceremonies
April 20.
The recognition of Ireland’s lifetime of exemplary service to others will
be made during the college’s Honors Day Convocation at 10 a.m. in Munger
Hall Auditorium.
Ireland joined Vulcan Materials Co. in
1946 and held executive positions with the subsidiaries of
Atlanta Aggregate and Stockbridge Stone Co., and for the
company’s Midwest Division. He was manager of community relations for
Vulcan at his retirement in 1986.
Born in Gadsden, he is a graduate of Baylor
School in Chattanooga, Tenn., and attended Birmingham-Southern,
Auburn University, Marion Military Institute,
and the University of Alabama. He has received honorary degrees from both
Auburn
and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Ireland currently is chairman of the C.B.
Ireland Foundation and on the board of the Alabama Division
of the American Cancer Society and |
William R. Ireland Sr
.
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Alabama Wildlife Federation. His past activities
include leadership roles with Big Brothers of Greater Birmingham,
Boy Scouts of America, Cahaba River Society, Alabama Heart
Association, Alabama Sheriffs’ Boys and Girls Ranches, United Way of
Jefferson County, and Southern Environmental Law Center.
His numerous honors include
the Distinguished American Award from the Alabama Division of
the National Football
Foundation and Hall
of Fame in 1981, Alabama Broadcasters Association Citizen of the
Year in 1981, Alabama Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation’s
Humanitarian of the Year in 1991, Alabama Wildlife Federation’s
Walter L. Mims Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994 and Conservationist
of the Year in 2003, National Society of Fund Raising Executive’s
Philanthropist of the Year in 1999, and The National Conference
for Community Justice Honoree in 2000.
He was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame in 1999
and into the State of Alabama Sports Hall of Fame as Distinguished
Alabama Sportsman
in 2000.
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