James Thomas Broyhill

A Representative and a Senator from North Carolina; born in Lenoir, Caldwell County, N.C., August 19, 1927; attended the public schools of Lenoir; graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1950; employed with the Broyhill Furniture Factories of Lenoir in a number of executive capacities 1945-1962; member of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Recreation Commission of Lenoir; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-eighth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses, and served from January 3, 1963, until July 14, 1986, when he resigned to serve in the U.S. Senate; appointed on July 3, 1986, to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John East, and served from July 14, 1986, to November 4, 1986, when a successor was elected; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate in 1986; chairman, Board of Economic Development for North Carolina 1987-1989; secretary, North Carolina Department of Commerce 1989-1991; served nine years as a member of the board of trustees, and seven years on the board of the Appalachian State Foundation of Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.; co-chairman, North Carolina Welfare to Work Business Council 1998-2000; served twelve years as member of the Economic Development Committee of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, six years as chairman; is a resident of Winston-Salem, N.C. A native of Lenoir, James Thomas Broyhill graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1950, according to his official congressional biography. His father, J.E. Broyhill, began the family’s furniture dynasty in 1926 as the Lenoir Chair Company and was a well-known Republican in his own right. The congressman was preceded in death by his son, Philip. In addition to his son Ed Broyhill, other survivors of Broyhill include his wife of 72 years, Louise R. Broyhill, and his daughter, Marilyn Broyhill Beach of Winston-Salem.