Richard J. Reynolds III; Tobacco Family Grandson
PINEHURST, N.C. — Richard Joshua Reynolds III, a grandson and the namesake of the tobacco company’s founder, is dead at age 60.
His half-brother, anti-smoking activist Patrick Reynolds, said the namesake Reynolds died of emphysema and congestive heart failure caused by smoking. R. J. Reynolds III died June 28 in Pinehurst.
A spokeswoman for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Peggy Carter, said the company had no comment. It is the nation’s second-largest tobacco company.
No family member has served on the company’s board of directors since the 1930s.
R. J. Reynolds III founded Full Sky Publishing, a company dedicated to publishing work by young writers, and produced the film “Siddhartha,” based on a Herman Hesse novel.
He also founded the Sufi Institute in New Mexico. The Sufi Foundation camp is located near Torreon, N.M., in the mountains about 40 miles southeast of Albuquerque.
The foundation based its beliefs on the Muslim movement of Sufism that emerged in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. About 500 of the 5,000 members annually attended a two-month summer camp.
Reynolds’ wife, Marie, died earlier this year. They had no children.
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