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David H. Murdock
David Howard Murdock (April 11, 1923 – June 9, 2025) was an American billionaire businessman, plant-based diet advocate and philanthropist.
Murdock was born on April 11, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a traveling salesman; his mother worked as a laundress and housekeeper to make ends meet. He was the middle child of three; he had two sisters. He was close to his mother, who died at 42 of cancer. He grew up in Montgomery Township, Ohio, and dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. He was drafted by the United States Army in 1943 during World War II.
Upon relocating to Detroit after the war, Murdock was homeless and destitute. Due to a chance encounter with a good samaritan, he obtained a $1,200 loan to buy a closing diner, flipping it for a $700 profit ten months later. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and began working there, first in housing and then commercial real estate.
When the real estate market collapsed in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles where he continued developing real estate opportunities, leading to a string of acquisitions. In 1978, he acquired control of International Mining. He became the largest shareholder in L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum, by selling the corporation his 18% share of the Iowa Beef Packers company for $800 million worth of Occidental stock in May 1981 with support from Armand Hammer: after this acquisition, Occidental, through its ownership of IBP and with support from Leonid Kostandov, became the largest United States supplier of beef to the Soviet Union.
In 1973, Murdock acquired Pacific Clay.
Via the Pacific Holding Company owned by Murdock, he purchased Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 1982. At the time, the company was profitable and had no debts. He used the company's profits to pay back the loans he secured to make the acquisition before terminating 2,000 positions and selling the company-owned homes. He eliminated the company's $100 million pension plan, taking $36 million to make personal investments and using the remainder to purchase annuity policies from Executive Life Insurance Company for Cannon employees. Executive Life later failed due to its own poor investments and reduced its payouts to retired employees. In 1985, Murdock sold the Cannon Mills business to Fieldcrest.
Also in 1985, Murdock took over the nearly bankrupt Hawaiian firm Castle & Cooke, which owned pineapple and banana producer, Dole Food Company. He developed Castle & Cooke's real estate portfolio into residential and commercial properties, and turned Dole into the world's largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Acquiring Dole privately in 2003, Murdock completed a $446 million initial public offering in October 2009, with the company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DOLE until a private merger agreement was approved on October 31, 2013. As a result of his purchase of Castle & Cooke, Murdock acquired ownership of 98% of Lanai, the sixth-largest island in Hawaii. In June 2012, Murdock sold his interest in Lanai to Larry Ellison.
Murdock helped contribute to the redevelopment of a 5,800,000-square-foot (540,000 m2) complex in Kannapolis, North Carolina, of a biotechnology research center, the North Carolina Research Campus. The research center is a joint public-private venture, involving major North Carolina universities and private investment. The site of the research center in the middle of Kannapolis was formerly occupied by Plant #1 of Cannon Mills (which became Pillowtex after a series of mergers and acquisitions). Pillowtex filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and closed the mill. This resulted in the largest mass layoff of workers in North Carolina history. Murdock acquired the site and demolished the mill in 2006.
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David H. Murdock
David Howard Murdock (April 11, 1923 – June 9, 2025) was an American billionaire businessman, plant-based diet advocate and philanthropist.
Murdock was born on April 11, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a traveling salesman; his mother worked as a laundress and housekeeper to make ends meet. He was the middle child of three; he had two sisters. He was close to his mother, who died at 42 of cancer. He grew up in Montgomery Township, Ohio, and dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. He was drafted by the United States Army in 1943 during World War II.
Upon relocating to Detroit after the war, Murdock was homeless and destitute. Due to a chance encounter with a good samaritan, he obtained a $1,200 loan to buy a closing diner, flipping it for a $700 profit ten months later. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and began working there, first in housing and then commercial real estate.
When the real estate market collapsed in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles where he continued developing real estate opportunities, leading to a string of acquisitions. In 1978, he acquired control of International Mining. He became the largest shareholder in L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum, by selling the corporation his 18% share of the Iowa Beef Packers company for $800 million worth of Occidental stock in May 1981 with support from Armand Hammer: after this acquisition, Occidental, through its ownership of IBP and with support from Leonid Kostandov, became the largest United States supplier of beef to the Soviet Union.
In 1973, Murdock acquired Pacific Clay.
Via the Pacific Holding Company owned by Murdock, he purchased Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 1982. At the time, the company was profitable and had no debts. He used the company's profits to pay back the loans he secured to make the acquisition before terminating 2,000 positions and selling the company-owned homes. He eliminated the company's $100 million pension plan, taking $36 million to make personal investments and using the remainder to purchase annuity policies from Executive Life Insurance Company for Cannon employees. Executive Life later failed due to its own poor investments and reduced its payouts to retired employees. In 1985, Murdock sold the Cannon Mills business to Fieldcrest.
Also in 1985, Murdock took over the nearly bankrupt Hawaiian firm Castle & Cooke, which owned pineapple and banana producer, Dole Food Company. He developed Castle & Cooke's real estate portfolio into residential and commercial properties, and turned Dole into the world's largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Acquiring Dole privately in 2003, Murdock completed a $446 million initial public offering in October 2009, with the company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DOLE until a private merger agreement was approved on October 31, 2013. As a result of his purchase of Castle & Cooke, Murdock acquired ownership of 98% of Lanai, the sixth-largest island in Hawaii. In June 2012, Murdock sold his interest in Lanai to Larry Ellison.
Murdock helped contribute to the redevelopment of a 5,800,000-square-foot (540,000 m2) complex in Kannapolis, North Carolina, of a biotechnology research center, the North Carolina Research Campus. The research center is a joint public-private venture, involving major North Carolina universities and private investment. The site of the research center in the middle of Kannapolis was formerly occupied by Plant #1 of Cannon Mills (which became Pillowtex after a series of mergers and acquisitions). Pillowtex filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and closed the mill. This resulted in the largest mass layoff of workers in North Carolina history. Murdock acquired the site and demolished the mill in 2006.