WPLN News Archive; Martha Ingram Part2 (Rebecca Bain) 8 5 04; News Archive 6/18/04-8/15/04

martha rivers was born in nineteen forty five in charleston south carolina that's where she grew up her father who owned radio and television stations in the charleston market made certain that martha would always be able to take care of herself he said i'm really making a big gamble in going into television we don't know whether it's going to work or not and if it doesn't you're going to be a very poor girl you would need an entry level skill and tanking is it after graduating from vassar in nineteen fifty seven with a degree in history martha rivers return to charleston to work on her father's broadcasting business as the oldest of his three children john rivers wanted her to be prepared to take over the family's radio and television stations should anything happen to him you never made me feel odd are inadequate because i was a girl he figures smart pay attention you can do is martha rivers spent a year and a half absorbing her father's business savvy until marriage to entrepreneur brunson ingram brother to nashville while her husband was immersing himself in his family's business interests my

favorite was raising their four children and working as a tireless advocate for the performing arts making a name for herself as someone who could get the job done governor phil bredesen first met martha ingram as a private citizen when both were on the board of the nashville symphony and one of more thing grimm's greatest passions during this period was the creation of the tennessee performing arts center gertrude caldwell was one of the women who worked closely with martha ingram on this campaign to make the pack seti the curve at an airy and yet protective very patiently to carry out that patient and as we are now that many people who can engage in things but did not know how to take their barrow clyde in the mini deep mail to acquire to carry out that patient in

nineteen eighty the tennessee performing arts center opened its doors to the public and it was then that more thing rooms husband bronson astrid become more involved with ingram industries his multibillion dollar empire which included the interim book group a leading distributor ingram to regroup and ingram insurance group as she had done years before with her father was living room began absorbing the family business he said i really want you to pay attention because if something were to happen to me you would be a no it will adapt their business the way a family member went in and our sons are young so pay attention will my father who had said that lived to be eighty five and never occurred to me that my husband would live at least till then if not longer than that that was not to be in nineteen ninety five bronson ingram age sixty three died from a brain tumor five days after his death martha became ingram industries chief executive officer we had i think about fifteen thousand people working for as we worldwide at the time of his death in

my case i think that what i was good at was letting the people that you have to do things do it the way they thought it should be done unless it just seemed bizarre in crazy the bar tourists was director of the board of a grim industries when martha took over as ceo now the children of the boys at robert morris really ready to step into the empty spot until march first at then i'll call her cover what good thing you know now i'll tell you i learned that it was a lot of fun and i love the challenge of it i do you know i like i'm winning i like the idea of the challenge in trying to achieve the goals but really my goal which and the promise i think is that my sons are now really basically running the business and yes i'm still chairman but i'm chairman to some are watching over their shoulders they are making the decisions and they're doing beautifully and very very proud of that those who know martha ingram use many words to describe her but one word used admiringly crops

up again and again white when she got a goal she stayed after vinci's stay after for a long period of time most private than he is reliably and that's not that golf of it and have the ability in nineteen ninety eight martha ingram was inducted into the south carolina business hall of fame the first living woman to receive that honor and she has continued her support of the performing arts through the interim charitable fund which she and her husband bronson created just prior to his death for national public radio i'm rebecca bain this

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