October 1993
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
17
As the head of
Wake County's
$250 million
bond drive, York
often v/as on the
stump speoking
to local groups.
Photo by John Rottef
York
Continued from page 14
someone who thrives on public ser
vice.
York himself says family and
community are what drive him.
“I have no political ambitions,” he
says. “It’s more a relation to the com
munity. I feel like my family is a big
part of the community, and I’ve
always sort of gravitated to leader
ship positions and enjoyed being in
leadership positions.”
ON THE RUN
Whatever his motives, York gives
new meaning to the concept of public
works.
He had an early start; At the age
of five, York was the “red-feather
boy” for the old Community Chest,
forerunner of the United Way. A
photo of young York, decked out in
red, accompanied a regularly updat
ed chart that showed the percentage
of the Community Chest’s goal that
had been raised.
As an adult, York has taken a
leadership role in the community. In
the past 20 years, he has involved
himself in four bond referendums,
chaired half-a-dozen civic organiza
tions and served or headed a dozen
professional groups.
In addition to overseeing his fami
ly's vast business holdings through
York Properties and York Construc
tion Co., he is chairman of North
Carolina Citizens for Business and
Industry, the state's biggest business
lobbying group. He serves on several
committees of the national Urban
Land Insitute and on the Raleigh-
Durham Airport Authority. He’s on
the board of Rex Hospital in Ralei^.
And he’s an active alumnus of N.C.
State University.
Despite his other commitments,
York last March agreed to chair the
$250 million Wake County bond cam
paign that faced an electorate wary
of new spending.
He worked hard. On May 24, for
example, a building at Cameron
Village, which the Yorks manage,
was hit by a fire. York personally
took charge of the crisis, but also
kept two scheduled appearances for
the bond issue - a luncheon talk at
the Lion’s Club and a formal presen
tation to the Wake Board of County
Commissioners.
The hard work paid off: When the
votes were in on Jime 8, voters had
approved the largest local bond issue
in state history. The bonds will fund
new schools, parks, libraries and
Wake Technical Community College.
York says he had no choice but to
accept a request to head up the bond
I
drive: The bonds, he says, are critical
to sustaining the Triangle's quality of
life.
THE LEGACY
The York legacy dates to before
the Civil War.
In 1842, Aldert Smedes — York's
maternal great-great grandfather -
started St. Mary's, the city's all-girls
preparatory school. In 1908, two
years before moving to Raleigh,
York's grandfather, Charles V. York,
built the first buildings on what is
now East Carolina University. In
Raleigh, he built Patterson Hall at
NCSU and Memorial Auditorium
downtown.
And Smedes'
father, Willie,
moved shopping
out of downtown
and into the sub
urbs when he
built Cameron
Village just after
World Warn.
York inherited
the role of the
family’s business
and political
leader in 1958,
when his older
brother, Jimmy,
opted to pursue a
career in physics
rather than engi
neering.
York at the
time was inter
ested in sports,
not construction.
“I remember sitting across from
Smedes at a banquet table about 20
years ago and during the entire meal,
this young man just kept his head
down and talked with no one,” says
Wake County Commissioner Betty
Lou Ward. “Now look.”
POLITICS
York quickly learned the world of
business, and politics was not far
behind. As mayor in the early 1980s,
York perfected a style of forging
coalitions.
“The key is to Ksten to what peo
ple are saying and to find something
common in which to talk to them
about,” York says. “You have to lis
ten. And then once-they tell you
something, don’t start talking about
yourself. Ask another question on
that subject...and listen.”
York pushed throu^ a multimil-
lion-doUar downtown revival, despite
concerns by nei^borhood activists
that the city mi^t be throwing good
money after bad. He also proved
more sympathetic to rezoning
requests.
But after two terms as mayor,
he community needs
to continue moving forward.
I don't think you can sit still.
It's like being in a stream
that's flowing.
If you sit still in anything,
you start moving backwards.
You can't maintain
the status quo.
SMEDESYORK
York decided not to run again. He
said at the time that he needed to
devote more time to his business.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
The Yorks’ imprint is evident
throughout Wake County. Unlike
other developers, the Yorks never
have ventured far from home. The
family's motto is, “If you can't get
there in -an hour, you shouldn’t be
trying to manage it.”
But that philosophy didn’t save
the Yorks from the building bust of
the late 1980s. Two years ago, the
family turned over more than 400
acres of land, two office buildings
and a 107-unit apartment complex to
NationsBank as a
means of reducing a
$20 million debt the
family could no longer
pay.
The family’s hold
ings are tightly held,
controlled % Smedes,
Willie and Smedes’
younger brother, Phil,
who is executive vice
president of York
Construc-tion.
York Family
Properties, a family
partnership that
includes six other sib
lings as minority
shareholders, owns
more than $10 million
worth of land, shop
ping centers and office
buildings in Wake
County.
Even there, control is concentrat
ed in the hands of Phil and Smedes.
“It takes years to build it, but you
can tear it down quickly,” says Willie
York. “One person dies ahd then
you've got a fight on your hands. If
you want it to stay in the family, you
have to make choices.”
By clearly defining who inherits
the business, the elder York says, his
family can avoid the infighting that
has occurred in other families.
Smedes, Phil and Willie York own
properties in Wake County valued for
tax purposes at about $20 million,
which includes the $10 million owned
by the family.
nGHTING MORTALITY
York’s devotion to civic matters
may be equalled only by his obses
sion with warding .off time's
inevitable erosion on his body. Since
Jan. 1, 1982, he's either jogged,
played golf, racquetball, basketball
or hiked once every day, through
winter's ice storms and summer’s
100-degree heat.
For business, he carries around a
2-inch thick daybook, allowing no
one but himself to set his appoint
ments. He records everything - from
an 8:30 a.m. jog on a Saturday to a 6
p.m. dinner at Magpies restaurant on
a Tuesday.
“If you can schedule it, you can do
it,” says York. “I don't consider what
I'm doing as work or leisure. There
are so many hours in a day and a
week, and you allot yourself time tor
various things.”
He meticulously documents eveiy
mile run or every golf round played,
awarding himself points based on the
exertion each specific sport requires.
Every January, he sends an updated
version of his past year's sports regi
men to Jim GrMdmon as a means of
needling his equally-competitive
friend, who is president of Capitol
Broadcasting.
“It drives me crazy,” says
Goodmon. “He's obsessed.”
Even his wife Rosemary ejqiress-
es dismay with some of her hus
band’s idiosyncracies. Sunday nights
are reserved for filtering through a
large box stacked with papers relat
ed to the coming week’s schedule.
Rosemary York, his wife of nearly 25
years, estimates York spends three
to five hours poring over the docu
ments, schooling himself on issues
that will confront him in the days
ahead.
“It amazes me and infuriates me,
quite frankly,” she says.' “He brings
home boxes of stuff that I would
think would be a semester's worth of
work.”
PASSING THE BALL
York no longer is the young ath
lete who rode the Wolfpack's varsity
basketball bench with Les Robinson
from 1961-63 under legendary coach
Everett Case.
But Robinson, now the NCSU bas
ketball coach, suggests that York's
mode of attack may be the same now
as it was then.
“I've never seen him pass the
ball,” says Robinson. “All he was
interested in was shooting the ball.”
Still, York is beginning to contem
plate passing the ball. He says he
hopes the company's influence con
tinues through his oldest son,
George, who joined York Properties
as a leasing agent immediately after
his May graduation from Wake
Forest University.
“To have a family business,” York
says, “you have to have a family. It
sounds simple, but it's true.”
And York, for whom family and
community are inextricably connect
ed, says that to help ensure the
future of the family business, he'll
continue to involve himself in Issues
ranging from new civic centers and
coUseums to bond referendums.
“It’s hard to separate them,”
York says. “The community needs to
continue moving forward. I don’t
think you can sit stiU. It’s like being
in a stream that’s flowing. If you sit
still in anything, you start moving
backwards. You can’t maintain the
status quo. That goes for the commu
nity or a business. I want to be
involved in moving forward because I
just feel I’m a part of it.”
How To Choose
F\md Raising Software When
The Choice Isn’t (Obvious..
It’s easy to get lost in today’s maze of software. But, choosing
software doesn’t have to be hard. First, look at the people who
will be helping you. The people behind Donor II understand
fund raising. They know how to help you use software to track
donors and prospects in the festest, most efficient way And,
they’ve made Donor II very easy to learn and use.
Donor H was designed especially for development professionals
by Systems Support Services to manage all components of your
development program. It gives you immediate access to donor
and prospect information and allows you to easily record and
reference gifts and pledges. Donor H maintains statistics on vital
development program areas, including campaign effectiveness
and name acquisition efforts. It lets you create personalized
letters, generate reports, and easily manage a memorial giving
program. The result is more time for you to nurture donors and
raise money for your organization.
Thke the straight path to software designed specifically for you.
Call Systems Support Services today at 1-800-548-6708 and
find out more about Donor II.
Systems Support Services
8731 Red Oak Blvd„ Ste. 140
Chariotte,NC 28217
1-800-54^6708
DONORH