Edmund Ruffin Obituary

RUFFIN, Edmund Saunders, 77, of "Evelynton" in Charles City, Virginia, died Sunday, July 1, 2007. Mr. Ruffin was born January 16, 1930 in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from St. Christopher's School in 1948 and earned a Bachelor of Science in general agriculture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in 1952. He served in the school's Cadet Corps for four years and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. In 1954, Mr. Ruffin was called to active duty as a first lieutenant training officer at Sampson Air Force Base in New York and Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. In 1957 he returned to his family farm in Charles City where he raised cattle, hay and grain. He left farming in 1959 to join Virginia Folding Box Company, a division of West Virginia Pulp & Paper (now Westvaco). In 1969 he founded Richmond Gravure, Inc., a paper board conversion company. He served as president of the company until 1979 when it was sold to International Paper Company. Until his retirement from International Paper in 1992, Mr. Ruffin served as general manager of the Folding Carton and Label Division. Mr. Ruffin was the great-great-grandson of Edmund Ruffin, the noted Virginia agriculturist and secessionist often credited with firing the first shot of the Civil War at Ft. Sumter. From 1984 to 2002, Mr. Ruffin was general partner of Evelynton Associates, a family partnership that opened Evelynton Plantation to the public as an historic attraction offering daily tourism admissions, corporate events and weddings. Mr. Ruffin served on the Board of Directors of First Virginia Colonial Bank and Metro County Bank (now Provident). He was a member of the Country Club of Virginia, the Commonwealth Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, Sons of the Revolution, the James River Association and Westover Episcopal Church. He had a long and abiding love of farming and animal husbandry, as well as a passionate interest in the James River, its unspoiled creeks and tidal marshes, waterfowl and wildlife. He loved hunting, fishing, and raising English setters and Labrador retrievers. Mr. Ruffin was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth Wood McMullan Ruffin. He is survived by his four children, Elizabeth Ruffin Harrison and her husband, James G. Harrison III, Edmund Saunders Ruffin Jr. and his wife, Stephanie L. Ruffin, Randolph Harrison Ruffin and his wife, Maria del V. Ruffin, and Sara Ruffin Costello and her husband, Paul J. Costello. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Elizabeth Ruffin Harrison, Catherine Randolph Harrison, Fielding Lewis Harrison, Emma Wood Ruffin, Edmund Saunders Ruffin III, Olivia Barrett Ruffin, Arturo del Valle Ruffin, Randolph Harrison Ruffin Jr., Edmund Augustine Ruffin, John Harrison Costello and Carolina Ruffin Costello. In addition, he is survived by a brother, John Augustine Ruffin III of Antioch, Illinois; two sisters, Mary Ball Ruffin Ellett of Charlottesville, Virginia, and Martha Ruffin Burgess of Williamsburg, Virginia; a sister-in-law, Alicia R. Archer of Charles City; and a brother-in-law, C. Grice McMullan of Richmond. A graveside service will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 5, at Westover Church in Charles City. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to the James River Association.