Fred M. Roddy Scholarship
Fred Mason Roddy, a Blount County native, was born March 12, 1905, in Blount County, Tennessee. He graduated from Maryville Polytechnic School in Maryville, Tennessee, in 1923, and from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1927. While at UT, Mr. Roddy earned extra money by driving a cab. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and ROTC. He began working for Tennessee Eastman Company in Kingsport soon after graduation. In 1939, he left to found his own firm, Cumberland Engineering Company.
At Cumberland, he invented a machine for granulating, dicing, and pelletizing plastic—a new product that had just come on the market. In 1940, Fred Roddy moved Cumberland Engineering Company to Providence, Rhode Island. The plant later moved to Attleboro, Massachusetts. Mr. Roddy was dedicated to his company and his employees. Never married, Mr. Roddy often worked both shifts and knew each employee who worked for him. Mr. Roddy’s vision and persistence paid off. His company flourished along with the plastics industry.
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Mr. Roddy died April 26, 1969 and is buried in Carpenter’s Campground UMC Cemetery in Maryville, Tennessee. He left a bequest of $500,000 to the University of Tennessee to establish an endowment for scholarships. The Fred M. Roddy Scholarship is a four-year award and has been providing financial assistance to UT students for 32 years. As of Fall 2004, more than 5,000 scholarships have been awarded. His will also established the Fred M Roddy Foundation headquartered in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The directors of the Roddy Foundation have provided annual financial assistance to the Fred M. Roddy Scholarship Endowment and have continued to visit the University of Tennessee each fall since the inception of the Roddy Scholarship Endowment.
Employees of Cumberland Engineering Company said the following about their employer.
He was a talented engineer and possessed a brilliant mind, but the characteristics that showed through most brilliantly were his total humanitarianism and his massive integrity.
He was a humble man and lived more simply than any of his employees. He was a manager who created a multimillion-dollar business based on the principle that the individual is more important than the "organization."
