2 Apr. 1892–25 Dec. 1967
Graham Hudson Anthony, industrialist, was born in Shelby, where his father, J. A. Anthony, was a lawyer. He received a B.E. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State College in 1914 and an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree 3 Oct. 1942, for his contributions to the university. A big man, "Aus" played football, was active in campus affairs, and was popular with his classmates. After his graduation from college, he was employed by various manufacturing firms in New England; he finally settled in West Hartford, Conn., where he accomplished his most outstanding work in the computer industry. He was president and board chairman of the Veeder-Root Company (now Veeder Industries), a multimillion dollar firm manufacturing computer and machine parts. He was on the boards of ten other banking, insurance, and industrial firms and held the presidency of Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's, Inc.) from 1944 to 1949. He also served on the National War Labor Board during World War II and was a member of the board of the National Association of Manufacturers from 1936 to 1943.
His first wife, Elizabeth Johnson Anthony, daughter of a former mayor of Raleigh, James Iredell Johnson, died in 1953, leaving a son, James I. In 1954 he married Mrs. Mary Alice Stevens Kaiser, who had two sons from her previous marriage. Graham H. Anthony died in Lancaster, Pa., while visiting his son for Christmas. He was outlived by two brothers, Oliver S. Anthony of Shelby and John A. Anthony of Norfolk, Va., and three sisters, Margaret Meagher, Mary Woodson, and Elizabeth Hauser of Shelby. His body was returned to West Hartford for funeral services and burial in the city's Fairview Cemetery.