Richard T. Farmer
Richard Thirl Farmer | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 22, 1934 Dayton, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 2021 (aged 86) |
| Education | Miami University |
| Spouse |
Joyce Elaine Barnes (m. 1957) |
Richard Thirl Farmer[1] (November 22, 1934 – August 4, 2021)[2] was an American businessman known for his tenure as chief executive officer of Cintas from 1968 to 2003.[3]
Career
Farmer worked for his father in the family business, Acme Wiper and Industrial Laundry, through childhood, high school, and college. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1956.[4] At Miami, he became a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. After graduation, he served in the United States Marines before being honorably discharged,[5] coming on full-time with the family business in 1957.
In 1959, Farmer's father transferred operation of the business to Richard. In 1962, the company name was changed to Acme Uniform & Towel Supply to reflect the uniform rental growth segment. By 1966, Acme annual revenues had grown to $1.8 million.[6]
In 1968 Farmer created a new company, Satellite Corp., to provide a centralized distribution system and to develop smaller uniform plants in major U.S. cities. In 1973, Satellite acquired Acme and became known as Cintas. The company became publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1983.[6]
He turned Mason, Ohio-based Cintas from a negative net worth of $34,000 into a Fortune 500 company with annual sales of $3.8 billion. Today Cintas works with over 800,000 other clients.[7]
Cintas is not only the nation's leading corporate uniform provider, but beginning in 1996 it greatly diversified and currently manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid and safety products, fire protection services and document management services.[8]
Farmer served as Cintas Corporation's CEO from 1968 to August 1, 1995. He served as chairman from 1968 until his retirement on October 20, 2009, when he assumed the role of chairman emeritus and remained on the board of directors.[8]
Philanthropy
He served as a member and chair of the board of directors at Miami University. At Miami, the Farmer School of Business is named for him after Farmer and his wife, Joyce (Barnes) Farmer (whom he married in 1957), provided the cornerstone gift to the school of business in 1992.[4] The Farmer School of Business consistently ranks as one of the best in the U.S. In 2013, it was ranked 22nd overall and eighth among undergraduate business programs at U.S. public universities, according to BusinessWeek.[9]
In 2005, they announced a $30 million leadership gift through the Farmer Family Foundation, of which $25 million helped underwrite the construction of Farmer Hall and $5 million was earmarked for faculty support.[4]
Associations
Farmer was the 15th largest fundraiser for the 2000 election of George W. Bush and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the Republican Party.[10] Farmer also authored a book, "Rags to Riches."[6]
Farmer was a director for Fifth Third Bancorp, the Lindner Center for Research & Education, Bethesda Inc., Safety-Kleen Corp., Bowne Inc., Home Federal Savings & Loan Association, Midwest Income Investment Company and Eagle Picher Industries Inc.[5]
Farmer was honored as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995. He was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2010, Farmer was honored by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber as one of the Great Living Cincinnatians.[5]
Personal life and death
On December 22, 1957, Farmer married fellow Miami University alumnus Joyce Elaine Barnes.[1] They had three children and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.[2]
Farmer died on August 4, 2021, aged 86, of Parkinson's Disease.[11]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Joyce Elaine Barnes Wed To Richard Thirl Farmer". Petoskey News-Review. August 13, 2021. p. A5. Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
In a double ring ceremony performed Dec. 22 in the Church of the Visitation in Eaton, Joyce Elaine Barnes became the bride of Richard Thirl Farmer. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Barnes of Eaton. Mr. and Mrs. Herschell Farmer of Cincinnati are the bridegroom's parents.
- 1 2 "Obituaries: Richard T. "Dick" Farmer". Petoskey News-Review. August 13, 2021. p. A5. Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
Richard T. "Dick" Farmer, 86, founder of Cintas Corporation, business leader and philanthropist, died peacefully on August 4, 2021, surrounded by his loving family. Dick was born on November 22, 1934. He married the love of his life, Joyce Barnes, shortly after she graduated from Miami University in December of 1956. After being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 1957, Dick began a career to transform a small family business into a multi-national provider of corporate identity uniforms and related business services, which, by the mid-1970s, would become known as Cintas Corporation. [...] Dick is survived by his loving wife of 64 years, Joyce, his three children and their spouses, [...] as well as grandchildren, [...] great-grandchildren [and] numerous nieces and nephews. Dick was predeceased by his sister, Joan Gardner and brotherin-law, Jim Gardner.
- ↑ "Richard T. Farmer, philanthropist and the founder of Cintas Corp., dead at age 86".
- 1 2 3 "About the Farmer School : Meet Dick & Joyce Farmer". www.fsb.miamioh.edu. Archived from the original on May 7, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- 1 2 3 "Richard Farmer". www.usotributecincinnati.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- 1 2 3 "Cintas Cares". Cintascares.com.
- ↑ "History of Cintas Corporation – FundingUniverse". Fundinguniverse.com.
- 1 2 "Page Not Found". Cintas.com.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ↑ "Undergraduate Rankings". www.fsb.miamioh.edu. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Campaign Inflation". www.motherjones.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2004. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ↑ Hagerty, James R. (August 14, 2021). "Obituaries: Cintas CEO Transformed 'Grubby Little Laundry'". The Wall Street Journal. p. A 9. ProQuest 2561001719.
Richard Thirl Farmer, known as Dick, was born Nov. 22, 1934, in Dayton, Ky., near Cincinnati. His paternal grandparents, Amelia and Doc Farmer, were circus trapeze performers. When circus work slowed down, they started a business collecting used rags discarded by factories, cleaning them and selling them back to businesses. His father, Hershell Farmer, took over that rag business. As a teenager, Dick Farmer worked as an usher at a theater and as a gas-station attendant. He chose Miami University because it was near enough so he could easily hitchhike there. He was a bartender and fraternity-house kitchen worker during his college years. At a fraternity party, hemet Joyce Barnes, who was majoring in elementary education. They married in 1957. He served briefly as a Marine Corps pilot but was discharged because of hearing problems. Back at the family firm, then called Acme Wiper & Industrial Laundry, his desire for rapid expansion conflicted with his father's reluctance to borrow money. 'Dick, this thing just isn't working out,' Mr. Farmer recalled his father saying, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The son expected to be fired. Instead, his father handed him the keys and said, 'You run this place.'. [...] In 1996, as a trustee of Miami University, he helped seal a decision by the school to drop the name of Redskins used by its sports teams, now known as the RedHawks. After listening to Native Americans' testimony on the old name, according to the Washington Post, Mr. Farmer turned to a fellow trustee and said: 'I didn't realize this hurt people. We've got to change the name.'