John D. Hollingsworth Jr. Dies At Age 83John D. Hollingsworth Jr., the reclusive owner of John D.
Hollingsworth on Wheels, Greenville, S.C., and one of the centurys most compelling textile figures,
died Dec. 30, 2000. He was 83.The business that he built, along with his real estate holdings,
enabled Hollingsworth to build an estate estimated at up to $600 million. He left that estate to a
fund that will benefit Furman University in Greenville, S.C., as well as the Greenville County YMCA
and other Greenville County charities. Hollingsworths will, which left nothing to his only
daughter, only intensified the mystique surrounding one of South Carolinas wealthiest
men.Hollingsworth was obsessive about privacy, according to those close to him, and cautious about
whom he trusted. In 1964, he accused his then-wife and only daughter of stealing money from his
company. However, he refused to testify against them at trial and both were acquitted. In the early
years, he had to be talked into applying for patents for his machinery ideas for fear that his
designs would become public record.Forbes Magazine, in an article in 1989 about the 400 wealthiest
Americans, described him as a miserly man with mean habits. Despite such a reputation, he routinely
donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities. He insisted, however, on
anonymity.Hollingsworth built John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels into one of the worlds leading
fiber-processing equipment makers. He invented machinery that separated textile fibers 10 times
faster than earlier machines, and he was credited in part with revitalizing Americas textile
machinery industry. Hollingsworth has subsidiary companies in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. It employs 1,200 to 1,500 people
worldwide.Hollingsworths grandfather started the familys business with a mule-drawn wagon in the
late 1800s. Hollingsworths father, John D. Hollingsworth Sr., bought a truck and ran the company
out of the garage of the familys house in Greenville. John Jr. was 10 years old when he began to
tag along with his father on trips to the areas textile mills to help fix the machinery.
Hollingsworth took over the company when his father died in February 1942.
February 2001
