To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Arkansas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arkansas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 5/30/12 • Approved: 6/30/12 • Last Updated: 7/30/12 • R700121-G0-S3
April 21, 1930 - January 6, 2011
Chairman of the Board and CEO of Tyson Foods, Inc., Philanthropist
* Obituary
Don Tyson was born on April 21, 1930 in Olathe, Kansas, the son of John W. and Mildred Tyson. The family moved to Springdale, Arkansas in 1931 to enable Mr. Tyson to develop his business of hauling produce from Northwest Arkansas to the larger markets in the Midwest such as Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. By the time Don Tyson was a teenager his father had started hauling chickens to those same markets and had also become involved in other aspects of the poultry business.
Don Tyson was born on April 21, 1930 in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas, the son of John W. and Mildred Tyson. The family moved to Springdale, Arkansas in 1931 to enable Mr. Tyson to develop his business of hauling produce from Northwest Arkansas to the larger markets in the Midwest such as Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. By the time Don Tyson was a teenager his father had started hauling chickens to those same markets and had also become involved in other aspects of the poultry business.
Through most of the 1950s Don worked with his father to grow the family business, then known as Tyson Feed and Hatchery, supplying feed and baby chicks to local poultry producers in Northwest Arkansas. In 1958 the company became "vertically integrated" by building its first chicken processing plant in Springdale, with Don overseeing the construction and then becoming its first plant manager. The company soon began to grow by acquiring other area poultry operations, and then went public with its initial public offering of stock in 1963 under the name Tyson's Foods, Inc.
Don had moved up progressively in the company leadership, being named President in 1966, and then becoming Chairman and CEO in 1967 when his father and step-mother were both tragically killed in an automobile-train accident in Springdale. He continued to serve as Chairman, President and CEO until 1983 when long-time Tyson executive, Leland Tollett was named President. In 1991 the company named Tollett President and CEO with Don remaining as Chairman until 1995 when he officially "retired" and Tollett was named Chairman and CEO.
In the late 1990s the company continued to grow, most notably with the acquisition of Hudson Foods in 1998. By this time, Don's son John Tyson had succeeded Tollett as Chairman of the Board of the company and Don Tyson was named Chairman Emeritus.
Don died January 6, 2011 from complications from cancer and passed away at home. Don was preceded in death by his father John W. and his step-mother Helen Knoll Tyson, as well as his mother Mildred Tyson; and, by his wife Twilla Jean Womochil Tyson, and his half-brother Randal William Tyson.
He was a world renowned fisherman, a founder of the Billfish Foundation that promotes the catch and release of marlin and other billfish, and was a long time member and benefactor of the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), a group that tracks and certifies world records for fishing.
Bio by Mary Hunter
Source [Accessed June 2012]:
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/jan/06/donald-j-tyson-obituary/
Gettysburg Times - Friday, January 07, 2011, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
http://www.ancestry.com
Contributed on 5/30/12 by wfields55
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 700121