John W. Rollins

John W. Rollins (born August 24, 1916 in Keith , Georgia , † April 4, 2000 in Greenville , Delaware ) was an American politician and businessman.

Life

Family and marriages

John W. Rollins was born in Keith. He attended a school in Ringgold that was far from his home town . After his father fell ill in John Rollins' childhood, the son was forced to take on many of his duties on the family farm. John W. Rollins was married three times, the marriages resulted in a total of ten children, later he had eleven grandchildren.

Business career

After the end of World War II , Rollins moved to Lewes with his first wife and opened a car shop there. He later grew his business by buying other businesses in Maryland and Virginia . At that time, Rollins also began renting out cars, which was a new industry at the time. In 1947, Rollins' older brother, John Rollins, followed and joined the business. Both founded a radio station, Rollins Broadcasting, and moved the station's headquarters to Radford, a rural town in Virginia. When buying the station, the brothers benefited from the falling prices for radios, as television replaced the radio monopoly at the time. 1956 followed the step into television.

In 1961 the brothers sold shares in Rollins Broadcasting. In the next three years they raked in revenues of more than $ 9 million. With this and the money from the partial sale, the brothers managed to buy Orkin Exterminating Company , a pest control company, in 1964 . The year before, the two brothers were honored with the Horatio Alger Award for their success on a business level. The interests of the company later grew so far apart that two new companies were founded in 1984.

Political career

Because of his business affairs, Rollins became interested in Delaware politics and joined the Republican Party. In 1952 he was the candidate for the office of lieutenant governor in Delaware and was able to prevail with 51% of the vote against Vernon B. Derrickson, the candidate of the Democrats. Rollins was sworn in on January 20, 1953 and held that office until January 15, 1957. In 1956, Rollins was a member of the Republican National Convention , which confirmed Dwight D. Eisenhower as a Republican presidential candidate. In 1960 Rollins ran for the office of governor of Delaware, but could not prevail with 48% of the vote against the Democrat Elbert N. Carvel .

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• John W. Rollins at Wikipedia