Nat Rogers, 91, Business Leader

Nat S. Rogers, described by friends as a ``scion of the Seattle business community,'' will be remembered, they say, for his dedication to the community and his outstanding business success.

The 91-year-old Northwest business leader died Tuesday in a nursing home.

A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Plymouth Congregational Church, Sixth Avenue and University Street.

Rogers was co-founder, with the late George Van Waters, of Van Waters & Rogers Inc. In 1924, the two put up a combined $2,500 to start their diversified distribution company that now has sales of more than $1.4 billion and is known as Univar Corp.

It is one of North America's largest chemical distributors. It has grown to more than 110 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

``The employees loved Nat, he was a real father figure,'' said James Bernard, Univar president. Rogers ``was a good motivator,'' Bernard said.

James Wiborg, Univar chairman and Rogers' son-in-law, described him as being a mentor long before the concept of ``mentoring'' was fashionable.

James McCurdy, president of the Puget Sound Dredging Co., knew Rogers all his life, and remembers Rogers as a patriarch and a ``very civic-minded individual.''

One of Rogers' basic tenets was that ``a business grows when a community grows,'' so his community efforts were extensive and widely recognized. Bernard said that when you tried to walk down the street with Rogers, there was one stop after another because he knew everyone and they wanted to greet him.

Rogers was named Seattle's First Citizen in 1958 by the Seattle Real Estate Board and was similarly honored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He was a founding trustee of Camp Brotherhood and the Seattle Foundation; trustee of the Seattle Housing Authority and Goodwill Industries.

His presidencies included the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, The Rainier Club and the Arctic Club; and he was 1946 campaign manager of Seattle's Community Fund, now known as United Way. In 1988, Rogers was named a laureate member of Junior Achievement's Puget Sound Business Hall of Fame.

Rogers' business directorships were extensive, too. Besides being a director and chairman of the executive committee of Univar Corp., he served on the boards of Pacific Northwest Bell, John Fluke Manufacturing Co. Inc., United Pacific Corp., United Pacific Insurance Co., Equity Fund Inc., Pacific American Fisheries Inc., Electrical Products Consolidated and Olympic Steamship Co. He was a Mason and a Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellow.

Rogers remained active in his business well into his 80s. Bernard said he was the kind of man who'd drop in after his retirement and sit on the desk and say: ``You're having lunch with me today.''

Rogers was born March 23, 1898, in Portland and spent his boyhood in Treadwell, Alaska, where his father was a grocer. Rogers returned to Auburn for high school and majored in chemical engineering at the University of Washington, where he joined Theta Xi fraternity.

Rogers is survived by his wife, Marian Wurzbacher Rogers; children Robert S. Rogers of Hunts Point; Ann Wiborg, Tacoma; and N. Stewart Rogers of Mercer Island; and 11 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

The family asks that remembrances be made to Rotary Boys Club or Goodwill Industries.