
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 16, 1994                   TAG: 9403160174
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HANCOCK SEAT WON'T BE FILLED YET

Roanoke Electric Steel Corp. said Tuesday its board of directors has decided to delay action on filling the seat left vacant by the death this month of John W. Hancock Jr., the company's founder and chief stockholder.

Thomas Crawford, assistant vice president and secretary of the Roanoke-based company, said the directors named the company's president, Donald Smith, to serve as chairman of the executive committee on an interim basis. Hancock, who had retired, held that position.

The board did not set a deadline for filling the board seat and the executive committee chairmanship on a permanent basis, Crawford said.

The directors gathered privately in their first meeting since Hancock's death March 3.

Hancock founded Roanoke Electric Steel and had maintained his interest in the company until his death at 89. He remained active in its management, although he had stepped down as chairman and president.

The company employs 1,000 workers and sells about $150 million worth of steel each year. Hancock himself worked in a small office in the Radisson Patrick Henry Hotel in downtown Roanoke.

Roanoke Electric Steel was one of the nation's first minimills, which have proven more profitable than large steel plants. But the idea was experimental in 1955 when Hancock and other investors founded the company.

There has been speculation in the money markets since his death that the company might be sold to investors outside the Roanoke Valley.

by CNB