McWhorter shares legacy of giving back

Posted: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:22 pm
By: By CHANDRA HARRIS-McCRAY

The Messenger 07.01.09
By CHANDRA HARRIS-McCRAY
Special to The Messenger
MARTIN — To gain his college degree, R. Clayton McWhorter worked in a small grocery store, dry cleaners and drugstore and delivered newspapers.
Working part time became part of the norm for McWhorter, who spent his first year studying pre-pharmacy at the University of Tennessee before transferring and earning his pharmacy degree from Howard College, now Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
McWhorter’s working ways had already gotten the best of him by the time he graduated from high school when he told his mother, Gladys McWhorter Franks, he would be happy to just work and gain enough cash for a car. He quickly discovered he could work all he wanted, but it would be while pursuing a college education.
Born in Chattanooga and raised in north Georgia, McWhorter and his three siblings lived in a farmhouse with no electricity, indoor plumbing or locks on the exterior doors. Raised single-handedly by their mother, the McWhorters may have lived in poverty, but they were taught always to drop what little change they had into the donation plate at church.
“You aren’t truly living until you have given back and made a difference,” McWhorter said.
As noted in McWhorter’s biography, “Leadership to Win,” giving back and making a difference were values instilled in him as a child, which he continues to carry with him. With more than 50 years’ experience as a top executive in the health-care industry, McWhorter made a pledge to himself in 1996 that he would maintain his net worth at its 1996 level and, if he were blessed beyond that with some returns, he would give it all back.
He has done just that.
A faithful supporter of UT Martin, McWhorter has established scholarships with a novel workship concept to help students who, as he did, work their way through college. Along with the R. Clayton McWhorter Endowment, McWhorter recently committed an extraordinary seven-figure deferred gift to the UT Martin College of Business and Public Affairs. McWhorter is also an avid supporter of UT Knoxville College of Law and the Institute for Public Service, along with other institutions of higher learning and charitable organizations.
Continuing his long legacy of giving back, McWhorter has lent his vision and resources to create SHOUTAmerica, a non-profit organization, which serves as an educational vehicle to energize and engage youth regarding the need for health-care reform in America.
The former vice chairman of the UT Board of Trustees and UT Development Council member also continues to serve as chairman of the private equity firm in Franklin, Clayton Associates, which he and his son, Stuart, founded. McWhorter makes Nashville his home with his wife, Michelle McWhorter, children and grandchildren.
Laughing, McWhorter said he cannot imagine retiring and not being involved.
“I will continue to do all that I can to open doors for young students, and I hope they will pay it forward as I have done,” he said. “It is such a wonderful feeling to know that you have made a difference in someone’s life.”
McWhorter is generous not only because it is simply the right thing to do, but because he feels, based on the lessons his mother taught him, that we all have an obligation to give back.
Editor’s note: Chandra Harris-McCray is assistant director of communications in the Office of Development at the University of Tennessee.

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