Former postmaster general Marvin Runyon dies
NASHVILLE (AP) — Marvin Runyon, a tightfisted auto executive who introduced corporate-style management to federal agencies as postmaster general and Tennessee Valley Authority chairman, died Monday. He was 79.
Runyon died of the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis at his home in Nashville, said Vicki Kessler, spokeswoman for the Atkinson Public Relations firm founded by Runyon’s wife.
In a sometimes stormy tenure as postmaster general from 1992 to 1998, he eliminated hundreds of management jobs, reorganized the massive operation and built a business that made more than $1 billion in profits by the time he left.
It was the first time the U.S. Postal Service had been in the black since 1989 after losing millions of dollars every year. There was only one rate rise for regular mail during Runyon’s tenure, from 29 cents to 32 cents.
“We focused on the customer; the customer is our focus. That’s one of the things about government agencies, they don’t focus on the customer,” Runyon said at the time.
Runyon entered public service in 1988 when President Reagan named him chairman of the TVA, a post he held until becoming postmaster general.
At the federal utility, he earned the nickname “Carvin Marvin” for slashing the payroll by one-third, and for reorganizing and streamlining operations.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former Tennessee governor, credited Runyon with stabilizing electricity rates at TVA. He also commended Runyon for creating thousands of jobs while top executive of Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. operations in North America.
“I don’t know of any Tennessee chief executive who has compiled a better record than that,” Alexander said. “He made an extraordinary difference in the lives and standard of living of literally tens of thousands of Tennessee families.”
Alexander said Runyon liked to tell the story of a congressman who called to berate him for giving bonuses to TVA executives. After listening for a while, Runyon offered to fly to Washington and hand the keys to TVA’s offices over to the lawmaker so he could come make the decisions. “He said he didn’t hear from him again,” Alexander said.
“Marvin Runyon was a man of great principle and ability,” TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough said. “He was loyal to TVA and to TVA’s mission. So this is a sad day for all of us at TVA.”
Runyon started his career on the assembly line at the Ford plant in Dallas where his father worked. He climbed Ford’s corporate ladder, eventually becoming vice president of assembly and operations.
He took early retirement from Ford in 1980, after 37 years with the company, and became the first employee at Nissan in the United States.
Under his stewardship, Nissan’s factory in Smyrna, Tenn., became one of the country’s most automated assembly plants.
Runyon would roam the plant floor dressed in the same blue uniform as his employees with “Marvin” stitched on the shirt.
During his time with the Postal Service’s, the total work force remained about the same even as its mail load grew by about 11 percent. The nation’s largest civilian employer at the time, the postal service had more than 765,000 workers.
However, Runyon did trim management jobs by 23,000 while adding letter carriers and other employees to improve customer service.
In 1997, the Justice Department ended a conflict-of-interest investigation of Runyon without filing criminal charges. But Runyon paid $27,550 as part of what the government called a “voluntary civil settlement.”
The actions concluded a probe begun in September 1996 into whether Runyon violated any laws in having discussions about putting Coca-Cola machines in the nation’s 40,000 post offices. He owned Coke stock at the time.
Runyon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in Dallas. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1943 and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of lieutenant. He was a management engineering graduate of Texas A&M University.
He was married in 1988 to Sue Atkinson. Other survivors include his sister, Marion Civello of North Richland Hills, Texas; four children, Marvin Runyon Jr. of Austin, Texas, Paul Runyon of Philadelphia; Anne Turner of Toronto and Jim Runyon of Los Angeles and a stepson, Brannan Atkinson of Nashville.
A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Thursday at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Belle Meade, Kessler said.
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Associated Press writer Joe Edwards contributed to this story.