PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The man who guided Consolidation Coal Company through periods of great profit and great transition has died.
Bobby Ray Brown, who was best known to those in the industry as “B.R.” Brown, died last week at his home in Tyler, Texas. He was 87.
Brown was a native of Hamburg, Arkansas, and started his career with Conoco Oil Company.
During his tenure with Conoco he established himself as a skilled labor negotiator and arranged numerous contracts with members of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union. At the time, Consolidation Coal Company was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Conoco. Brown was sent to Pittsburgh to help with Labor Relations.
“He was a great businessman and he made sure those of us who worked for him kept our eye on the bottom line and controlled costs and increased productivity,” said longtime Consol employee Tom Hoffman. “He was also a skilled negotiator.”
Brown came to Pittsburgh to help run Consolidation Coal in 1978. At its peak, Consol had more than 50 coal mines in six states and nearly 22,000 employees. It was the nation’s largest coal producer. It was also the company with the largest employee base represented by the United Mine Workers of America.
Brown helped to forge what became known as the Bituminous Coal Operators Association and negotiated national coal contracts. He was the chief negotiator for the BCOA which at one time represented more than 100 coal companies.
The most high-profile contract came in 1993 when Consol was among the companies singled out by the UMWA for a selective strike.
“It was the last of the national contracts that he negotiated. He had done the previous three and he was a very skilled negotiator when he came to Consol, but you’re right the 1993 strike was the one that made him a household name for the better part of a year,” Hoffman said.
In 1981, CONSOL became a subsidiary of E.I. duPont de Nemours when that company acquired Conoco. That same year, in addition to his titles at CONSOL, he became a senior vice president at DuPont. He spent five years as president and CEO of Remington Arms, which was owned by DuPont at the time.
In 1992, Brown helped complete a financial transaction in which DuPont sold a half interest in CONSOL to the German mining company, Rheinbraun. Toward the end of the decade, DuPont sold its remaining interest to Rheinbraun and exited the coal business.
Beginning in 1999, Rheinbraun began selling portions of its ownership in CONSOL Energy to the public, eventually selling its entire financial position.
“His role in the evolution of the company was to help DuPont in the early 90’s wanted to exit the coal business, and he was responsible for bringing in Rheinbraun to facilitate that exit,” Hoffman said.
True to his roots, Brown would classify himself as a “country boy” with a love for hunting, fishing, and playing golf with clients and friends. However, he had a tremendous sense for business and according to Hoffman was a keen judge of character.
“He never forgot his roots. He had lots of country sayings to make a point, but when you were with him one-on-one you felt like you were his closest adviser. He had a way of making everybody feel important when he was talking,” Hoffman said.
“I once asked him what his biggest mistake was and he said, ‘Promoting people before they were ready for the job,'” Hoffman explained. “What he meant was if you promoted someone and they failed, you really couldn’t put them back where they had come from and start over, you actually had to move them out of the company. He really hated to do that.”
Brown retired from Consol in 1998.