Jim Wiborg, Former Univar Board Chairman, Passes Away

SEATTLE, Wash. — Jim Wiborg, former longtime chairman of the board for Univar Corporation, died on Aug. 1, at age 90.

 

Wiborg, a native of the Seattle, Wash., area,  founded several companies in the Pacific Northwest including Western Plastics in 1953, which grew become the largest plastics pipe company on the West Coast. While serving as president of insurance provider United Pacific Company, Wiborg became associated with Norm Ehmann of Van Waters & Rogers through a mutual friendship with the Treleven family (owners of Sprague Pest Solutions). Wiborg and Ehmann were both instrumental in facilitating the merger of United Pacific Company and Van Waters & Rogers into Univar, now the largest chemical distribution company in the world. 

 

“They both convinced their respective Boards and with the huge cash infusion from the Insurance Company that there would be advantages to both firms,” recalled Larry Treleven, vice president and co-owner of Sprague Pest Solutions, Tacoma, Wash., who remembered Wiborg as a “creative and forward thinking individual.”

 

Univar prospered under his leadership and in 1969, the company became listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In June 2014, Univar filed for a $100 million initial public offering.

 

According to an obituary in the Seattle Times, Wiborg also was committed to the community of Tacoma throughout his life, serving as a Trustee at University of Puget Sound for 30 years, where he funded the Wiborg Physics Faculty Lab. He generously supported many community organizations, including United Way, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital/MultiCare Health System, YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, The Tacoma Art Museum, Bellarmine Preparatory School, Thea Foss Maritime Museum, and the Goodwill of Tacoma. He was also a major donor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian.