WASHINGTON — June 5, 2017 — Paul O’Day, president of the American Fiber Manufacturing Association (AFMA) since 1984, died on June 1. He was 82.
“It is a sad day for the U.S. textile industry,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman William V. McCrary Jr., chairman and CEO of Spartanburg, S.C.-based William Barnet & Son LLC, a synthetic fiber/yarn/polymer firm with plants and/or offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
“I’ve been proud to call Paul a friend for decades and worked with him closely during my two-year stint as AFMA chairman. He was a strategic thinker who safeguarded the U.S. fiber industry’s interests in Washington during very tumultuous times,” McCrary continued.
“Many important policy issues arose during Paul’s three decades as president at AFMA that would not have been resolved favorably without his wise counsel and resolute, steady leadership,” McCrary added.
NCTO President and CEO Auggie Tantillo, who worked directly with O’Day since the early 1980s said, “For 33 years, Paul O’Day exhibited an unmatched dedication to AFMA and the industry he loved.”
“Paul represented his constituency with a style and level of decorum virtually unheard of in the current Washington environment. Famously courteous and humble, Paul won heated policy debates through the power of his extraordinary intellect, his expansive institutional knowledge and his total command of the subject matter at hand. Completely secure in his role and the critical contribution he made to every project, Paul was always quick to defer credit and to shower praise on his colleagues,” Tantillo added.
“Fiber manufacturers and the U.S. textile industry lost a priceless asset who will be greatly and deservedly missed,” Tantillo finished.
AMFA’s press statement on Paul O’Day’s passing is at this link, and his obituary can be found here.
Posted June 5, 2017
Source: NCTO
