[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 129 (Tuesday, July 31, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING JOHN M. RICHARDS

 Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a great 
Idahoan, John M. Richards. John recently passed away, leaving a 
tremendous legacy for the timber industry and as a strong supporter of 
economic development and a champion for those in need.
  John and his identical twin brother, Tom, were co-owners of Idaho 
Forest Industries, IFI, which had its headquarters in Coeur d'Alene and 
provided more than 450 jobs. It is said to be one of the largest forest 
products industries to make northern Idaho their home throughout the 
second half of the last century. The brothers were committed to forest 
stewardship, but in the early 1990s, timber industries faced falling 
prices, public challenges against timber harvesting, and less 
availability of local and Federal timber. IFI survived because of the 
ingenuity of the two brothers. They began testing the ability to long-
haul timber from other regions of the country and Canada, as far away 
as Quebec.
  Even in the hard times, IFI kept all of its employees on the payroll. 
Some have called IFI the ``best employer in the area.''
  When John and his brother decided to retire about the year 2000, IFI 
was sold to Stimson Lumber Co. of Oregon. John and Tom thought Stimson 
would run their company in much the same way they had run it and would 
keep most of their workers.
  John was raised in Kootenai County, ID, and cut his teeth working in 
his dad's lumber mill.
  Even though he was the co-owner of IFI, John worked for 29 years at 
Potlatch Corp., another lumber company in northern Idaho. He became 
chairman and CEO and then retired from there in 1999. John, who went to 
Stanford University, where he earned a degree in economics and an MBA 
from Harvard Business School, was committed to the welfare of others. 
He was known to give jobs to anyone who wanted to work and to let the 
employees work in teams to consider how to best accomplish the work in 
their areas. When some say people are our best asset, John believed it. 
He was a caring employer, and his workers respected him for it.
  In 2014, John and Tom were inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame in a 
family-only ceremony. The brothers were not known for wanting any kind 
of publicity or public recognition for their commitment to good 
business practices or for how they supported the community. John just 
did what he thought was the right thing to do: build an honest and 
beneficial business, make jobs available, give back to the community, 
and assist others--and so no boasting about it.
  John was also a family man. He was married to Joy Elaine (Hanson) for 
34 years. As a father, John's children say he was always there for 
them.
  John was a great Idahoan, an exemplary businessman, a caring, 
charitable member of the community, and a timber man of excellence. He 
will be sorely missed by his family, his friends, ``coworkers,'' and by 
many throughout northern Idaho.

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