Biography of winston bowman

Bowman Gray Sr. (May 1, 1874 – July 7, 1935) was president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a major benefactor of the medical school of Wake Forest College which now bears his name.

Life and career

Bowman Gray was born in what was then Winston, North Carolina, to Wachovia co-founder James Alexander Gray and the former Aurelia Bowman. After receiving his primary and secondary education in his hometown, Gray matriculated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1890-91 academic year and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

He left school the following year to become a clerk at Wachovia.

Biography of winston bowman

In 1895, he began working at R. J. Reynolds as a salesman. His sales success propelled him into management after two years, at which point he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he married the former Nathalie Fontaine Lyons on October 1, 1902.

There she gave birth to their two sons, Bowman Gray Jr.