University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

Roy J. Carver

[title]
To Roy J. Carver, engineer, industrialist, philanthropist, whose foresight, venturesomeness, and judgment exemplify how engineering skill can be combined with business acumen to advance technology.

Chairman of the Board, Carver Industries; Chairman of the Board, Bandag, Incorporated, Muscatine, Iowa

BS, General Engineering, 1934

Roy Carver's main talent lies in identifying potentially good technical ideas and causing them to flourish. After graduating from the University, he worked for the state of Illinois for four years and then left to form his own business – the Carver Pump Company that produced a self-priming pump he designed. Subsequently, he formed additional companies based on ideas he believed could succeed. While traveling in West Germany he observed the "Steinex" method for hardening foundry cores, and after acquiring the U.S. rights, he formed Carver Foundry Products. His most outstanding venture has been the Bandag "cold" tire retreading process with which he became acquainted in Europe in 1956. Under his guidance, Bandag had become the world standard of quality in retreaded tires.

Mr. Carver believes in education and is a generous contributor to several Midwest colleges and universities, where his gifts have provided for distinguished professorships, scholarships for students, and facilities to house the fine arts, health care, athletic events, and a library. He is a recipient of the University of Iowa Distinguished Service Award and is on the board of directors of Augustana College, and the University of Illinois Foundation and the University of Iowa Foundation.

Current as of 1977.