Cheatham Hall

A World Forestry Center founder and a powerful figure in the lumber industry, Julian Cheatham (1911-1988) was born in Concord Depot, Virginia. He attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute before joining his brother’s business, the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Company, as a sales representative.

Cheatham served in World War II from 1942-1945 as a captain in the Tenth Infantry Regiment, Fifth Infantry Division and in General George Patton’s famed Third Army.

After he finished his military service, Cheatham supported Georgia Hardwood’s westward expansion to Chicago, Tacoma, and eventually Portland. With substantial timber holdings all over the United States, the company rebranded as Georgia-Pacific Corporation and expanded from lumber and plywood production to gypsum, chemicals, pulp and paper.

Julian Cheatham’s steady, quiet strength and far sightedness was an integral part of Georgia-Pacific’s international ascent. He became vice president in 1947, and when he retired in 1973, he was an executive vice president and a director of one of the largest and best-known corporations in the world.

During his career, his interest in wood products and forestry was a major focus. He was president of the California Redwood Association; a director of the Western Wood Products Association; the National Forest Products Association; the Redwood Inspection Service and the World Forestry Center.

As a founder of the World Forestry Center, Julian Cheatham nurtured a seed of an idea into a fully developed educational institution. As a director, a vice president, president and chairman of the board, he participated almost daily in the Center’s evolution. He was an unassuming hero of the wood products industry, his community, and his country.