There was something in Hunter Capers Sledd Jr. that corporate success couldn't squash.
He loved to farm.
He set out as a youngster to be a farmer and, despite a long career steering his family company Taylor & Sledd Inc., his green thumb never waned.
Mr. Sledd, a father of five, business executive and community volunteer, died Saturday. He was 86.
Mr. Sledd was born in Richmond and aside from two years in the Navy during World War II, had always lived within 25 miles of the city.
He graduated from Charles City County High School and enrolled in Virginia Tech for one semester and thought he'd make a life farming. But after discharge from the Navy, he joined his father's business, Taylor & Sledd.
He also started a family, marrying Marian Virginia Hahn in 1948 and raising five sons, Hunter III, Bill, Randy, Bob and Richard.
Taylor & Sledd's roots run deep in Richmond's business community.
Mr. Sledd's great-grandfather, Maj. James H. Capers, started a food-brokerage business in 1875. Capers, who served under Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War, sold fresh produce, canned goods and salted fish.
Capers' grandson, Hunter Sledd Sr., inherited the business. The company merged in 1918 with H.P. Taylor Co. to become Taylor & Sledd.
Mr. Sledd started with the company as a warehouse laborer and then a forklift operator before going into sales, where he learned the business. He said he tried to build profitable sales relationships by helping the customer succeed, a goal he carried as his career advanced.
In 1955, he became president of Taylor & Sledd.
Mr. Sledd later bought out the interest of the Taylor family in its Pocahontas food brand, which was first used for canned peas in 1890. When Pocahontas Foods was later merged with two food distributors to form a separate company, Performance Food Group Co., Mr. Sledd remained chairman of the board of Taylor & Sledd.
He retired — for the first time — in 1990, but he returned to work months later when Taylor & Sledd stockholders and James Cremins bought Carmine Foods from a group of New York investors.
When they sold that operation, Mr. Sledd retired again. He continued with his many community-service pursuits as well as spending time with his family, including his eight grandchildren.
Mr. Sledd spent years working with the Boy Scouts of America, the Chamberlayne Laburnum Athletic Association, the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center and the Longwood College Foundation.
He was a member of the Rockville Ruritan Club and served as president and co-founder of the Rockville School Park Foundation, which was formed to develop an abandoned school property into youth sports fields.
And then there was his garden.
At times, Mr. Sledd had a garden of a half-acre or more, full of all kinds of vegetables, family members said. From melons to asparagus, Mr. Sledd had a green thumb that he nurtured even after he and his wife moved to Cedarfield, a retirement community in Henrico County.
He trudged in a garden there, too.
"He couldn't let that part go," Randy Sledd said of his father.
Mr. Sledd's seat at the corporate board table never shook his humble and easy-going nature; he never took himself too seriously.
"I think he was certainly pleased with his business accomplishments, but he was all about setting the right example and being a good person and giving back to the community," son Bob Sledd said of his father.
"Some people get cranky or upset; he never had a bad word about anybody. He just really looked for the best in people and trusted people and believed in people and that's the way he lived his life."
In addition to his wife, sons and grandchildren, survivors include a sister, Dee Dee Rogers.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. at River Road United Methodist Church.
(804) 649-6812
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