Thomas A. Roe

Thomas Anderson Roe, Jr. (1927–2000) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and conservative activist.

Thomas Anderson Roe, Jr. was born in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. He graduated from Furman University in 1948, and worked as a research assistant in their cancer center, with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. He received a business degree from LaSalle Extension University and a certificate in advanced studies from the Brookings Institution Program on Urban Policy.

In 1961, he inherited the Citizens Lumber Company from his late father, and renamed it Builder Marts of America. It became a Forbes 500 company. It was later purchased by Guardian Industries. He started a telecommunications company for long-distance calls, later purchased by MCI Inc.. He also served as vice president of American Holdings, a firm with ice cream, refrigerator, and furniture manufacturing interests in the United States, along with land holding and air cargo operations in the Dominican Republic.

He served as vice chairman and finance chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, and a member of the Republican National Finance Committee. He was a delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention, where he supported Barry Goldwater. Later, he became an advisor to Ronald Reagan.

He served on the boards of the Heritage Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Free Congress Foundation, the Council for National Policy, the International Policy Forum and the now-defunct National Empowerment Television. In 1986, he founded the South Carolina Policy Council, a free-market think tank. By 1992, the State Policy Network (SPN) was born. The Roe Award, awarded by the State Policy Network, is named for him. He receive the Clare Boothe Luce Award from the Heritage Foundation in 1999.

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