Longtime Finch Paper Chairman Richard J. Carota Dies at 73

In 1979, he was elected to the Finch, Pruyn Board of Directors and, in 1980, was named executive vice president. He was elected president in 1982, and chairman and CEO in 1983.

Mr. Carota had a long and colorful history with the seven unions that represent Finch, employees. As an hourly worker and union officer, he served on the union negotiating committee that bargained with company leaders for labor agreements in 1956 and 1958. Later, as a senior manager at the mill, he led the Company's negotiating team, working out 20 labor agreements with the unions over a span of 40 years. He took particular pride in leading the development of a line of lucrative premium papers that allowed the company to negotiate contracts that provided local workers with some of the highest wages and benefits in the U.S. paper industry.