Hall of fame bound

HAYDEN - Twin brothers Tom and John M. Richards of Hayden are scheduled to be inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

The induction ceremony will be a private family event for spouses, children and grandchildren.

Freeman Duncan, North Idaho director of the Idaho Hall of Fame, will perform the ceremony.

"This is a truly amazing story," Duncan said. "Two identical twin brothers who both attended Stanford (University) and Harvard (Business School) before both becoming very successful leaders in the timber industry."

They were raised in Kootenai County and started their careers working in the mill belonging to their father, John S. Richards.

"They refuse to be publicly recognized for their generosity," Duncan said. "It is a miracle that they have agreed to be inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame."

The brothers couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

The Richards family was in the lumber business for decades with Idaho Forest Industries (IFI) Inc. The family company was sold to Stimson Lumber Co. of Portland in September 2000.

The purchase included IFI's three North Idaho sawmills and 89,000 acres of timberland. IFI employed approximately 460 people at the mills in Coeur d'Alene, Priest River and a forestry office in St. Maries.

At that time, Tom Richards was company chairman. John M. Richards retired as chairman of Potlatch Corp. in 1999. Tom Richards ran the family business for 35 of its 84 years in Coeur d'Alene.

Tom Richards kept IFI's mills running "full-tilt," with only two weeks of down time in 1981, according to media reports at the time. That was due to poor lumber prices and a boiler problem, but no mill workers were laid off during that period.

Jim English, attorney and eventually president and chief operating officer in his 22 years as an IFI employee, said the Richards brothers were extremely charitable to almost everything that was happening in Kootenai County.

"They had a very charitable bent to them," English said Wednesday. "They are truly great citizens of this area."

IFI was at the top in terms of employee wages and benefits in North Idaho, English said.

"Those employees provided immense economic benefit to this community," English said. "They were the best employer in the area - by far."

The Richards brothers' relationship with North Idaho has been lifelong and continues.

"They've continued to be charitable," English said.

Shawn Keough, a state senator from Sandpoint and current executive director of Associated Logging Contractors Inc. in North Idaho, started working in the timber industry in the late 1980s, and met the Richards brothers and observed their work.

"They were very highly regarded by logging contractors and others in the timber industry and by the greater community," Keough said Wednesday.

She described IFI as a bedrock company in the industry, and said the Richards brothers were always committed to the industry, the community and to keeping people employed.

"They kept their mills going through thick and thin," Keough said. "It's a really difficult type of business to stick to, and they really did."

Jim Riley, who was president of the now disbanded timber industry advocacy group Intermountain Forest Association, said the Richards brothers were early advocates of sustainable forest practices. They sought to protect the soil, water and long-term health of Idaho forests.

"It was their professional commitment," Riley said. "They helped lead efforts to modernize forest practices."

Riley today is president of Riley and Associates in Coeur d'Alene, a forestry and public policy consulting firm.

The Richards brothers were committed to ethical business practices, Riley said. They did what they could to help other North Idaho businesses prosper, knowing it was good for their family's business, too.

"They believed very much in being good corporate citizens," Riley said. "Everywhere you looked you'd find Idaho Forest Industries."

He described the Richards brothers as being "go-to people" when some cause or fundraiser in the community needed assistance.

"They grew up here, they believed in this community, they invested in this community," Riley said.