Joseph Hill Torras

Joseph Hill Torras, Sr. of Charleston, SC, and Shelburne, MA, died Tuesday, September 2, 2014.

Born in Americus, GA, November 14, 1924, he was the son of Fernando Joseph and Nell Wilson (Hill) Torras. He grew up in Sea Island and Brunswick, GA, served as a pilot in the US Navy during WW II, and spent his career as a paper company executive in the Northeast. Joe Torras was an astute businessman, entrepreneur, athlete, and a devoted husband and father. He graduated from Glynn Academy in Brunswick, GA in 1942, and entered Naval Flight School in August, 1943. He was trained to fly the TBF Avenger and flew anti-submarine missions in the Atlantic theater. He was honorably discharged in 1946 at the rank of Lieutenant, j.g. Joe then attended Yale University, where he was a member of the Varsity Swim Team, and graduated in 1948 with a degree in Engineering. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School, graduating in 1950. In 1951 he began a 53 year career in the paper industry. Through 1963, he held key management positions with the St. Regis Paper and Brown Paper Companies. In 1964, he struck out on his own and purchased the Premoid Corporation, a struggling paper mill in West Springfield, MA. Within four years he had the mill running profitably. In 1969, he took another risk and bought Lincoln Pulp and Paper, in Lincoln, ME. At the time of the purchase, the mill was completely shut down, and the small, remote town was desperate to find jobs for the 880 mill workers. Joe Torras re-started the mill and ran it successfully for the next 35 years. In recognition of his leadership, in 1989 the town of Lincoln honored him with a plaque in the town square. In addition to his career as a businessman and entrepreneur, Joe Torras was a generous benefactor to many individuals and institutions. He was an active fundraiser for Yale and for the Harvard Business School. He served on the Massachusetts Governor's Business Advisory Council, on the Board of Governors of Mass General Hospital, and was a longtime trustee of Historic Deerfield, MA. He was a trustee of Piedmont College, GA, and received an honorary doctorate in 1997. He also founded the Larsen Fellowship, which awarded a scholarship each year to the leading graduate of the Lincoln High School in Maine.

Joe retired from business in 2004 and began residence in Charleston, SC, with his caring and devoted wife, Mary Mitzi Ravenel Robertson. Joe and Mitzi spent sixty romantic years together, which only ended with Mitzi's death in 2012. They shared many activities, including the restoration of an antique farm in Shelburne, MA. In their mid-30's, Joe and Mitzi took up skiing, which became a passion that they pursued into their mid-70's. They took annual trips to the Austrian Alps, where they made more good friends and had hair-raising adventures.

Joe Torras leaves three children, Mary Martin Torras (New York, NY), Fernanda Torras Harrington and her husband John (Warner, NH), and Joseph Pepe Hill Torras, Jr. and his wife Michele (Amherst, MA). He leaves eight grandchildren: Sallie Gray, Mitzi, Giselle, Joe, and Ben Harrington, and Stefane, Jean-Pierre, and Anna-Lise Torras.

His funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, September 5, 2014 in St. Michael's Church, 71 Broad Street, Charleston, SC.

The interment will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, September 6, 2014 in Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, SC.