Alvin R. "Pete" Carpenter

Alvin R. “Pete” Carpenter, husband, father and grandfather, passed away from cancer on Tuesday, August 20, at age 77. He was with his wife, Marilyn, in West Virginia. From Appalachia’s hard scrabble Rockcastle County, Ky., Mr. Carpenter began working as a 20-year old brakeman for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, to become one of America’s most respected railroad executives.

At CSX Transportation, headquartered in Jacksonville, Mr. Carpenter held a variety of operating, planning, and sales and marketing positions, including Trainmaster, Superintendent of Terminals, Superintendent of Operations, Division and Regional Manager and Executive Vice President-Sales and Marketing. In 1992, at age 49, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of CSX Transportation, a position he held until 1999. Mr. Carpenter retired as Vice Chairman of CSX Corporation in 2001

During his tenure leading CSX, he oversaw the successful merger with Conrail, the primary Class 1 railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999, increased CSX revenue 13 percent, grew operating income 56 percent, and CSX stock set record highs. Mr. Carpenter developed a performance-based culture at the railroad while overseeing everything from government regulations to customer relations to new business strategies.

Mr. Carpenter served as a director on the boards of Florida Rock Industries, PSS World Medical, Regency Centers Corporation, Stein Mart, Inc., and Consol Energy. He also served on the boards of NationsBank, Barnett Bank, Inc., American Heritage Life Insurance Company, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida, and One Valley Bancorp of West Virginia. In 2015 Mr. Carpenter was honored at Foley & Lardner’s National Director’s Institute Executive Exchange and given the National Directors Institute Public Company Director of the Year award, He served as Chairman of the Florida Council of 100 and was a member of various business and fraternal organizations. In 2018 a building at Transylvania University was named in his honor.

Mr. Carpenter chaired Governor Jeb Bush's Commission on Workers' Compensation Reform and served on Governor Bush’s Advisory Council on Base Realignment and Closure. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra during 2002 and 2003.

As one of the nation’s top corporate executives, Mr. Carpenter traveled the country and the world meeting with industrial, political and governmental leaders, but he never forgot his roots in his hometown of Mt. Vernon, writing in 2012, “I’ve come a long way from my little hometown of Mt. Vernon, Ky. but there’s always going to be a piece of me back in those hills.”

As a high school student in Ludlow, Ky., where he met his future wife, Marilyn Rex, a school cheerleader, Mr. Carpenter demonstrated the kind of leadership qualities that would carry him through his successful life. In talking to The Kentucky Post in 1996, Dan Sullivan, who taught and coached at Ludlow High School, said, “Pete liked to be the focal point, but it wasn’t a selfish type of thing. Pete just always had an attitude, ‘I can get the job done. You need somebody to score the winning point, get the ball to me.’” His old basketball coach, Carl Wenderoth, said, “Pete took the bull by the horns in everything he ever attempted. He was a natural leader, very aggressive, very headstrong. A person determined to succeed.”

From 1960-1962 Mr. Carpenter attended Transylvania University before transferring to nearby University of Cincinnati where Marilyn was a student at University of Kentucky’s northern extension and working in Cincinnati. The two married in 1962, the same year Mr. Carpenter got his first railroad job as a brakeman. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences and joined the sales department at the Chessie System in Cincinnati.

In a book he wrote for his family and published in 2012, Mr. Carpenter described his life in retirement.

“I find peace in all kinds of things, from being with family, walking the dogs on the beach, hunting birds, listening to the music I love, or just reading the Sunday paper—I’ve always loved news. And maybe rather strangely, I find serenity in interesting debates and stimulating conversations. I have wonderful friends, long-time friends. That’s one of the benefits of a lifetime of real hard work. I get to do things that I love, and it just keeps getting more interesting and better all the time.”

In addition to Marilyn Carpenter, his wife of 57 years, Mr. Carpenter is survived by his daughter, Dana Carpenter Ernst, son-in-law Jon Ernst, grandchildren Daniel Ernst (wife Paige), Matthew Ernst, and Grace Ernst.as well as his devoted English cockers, Ike and Winston.

The family wants to thank Dr. Xavier Garcia and his staff at Lyerly Clinic at Baptist Hospital, also Dr. Robert Zaiden and Dr. Cynthia Anderson their staff at M.D. Anderson Medical Center for their special care for Mr. Carpenter.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest memorial gifts and donations be sent to the Salvation Army of Northeast Florida, or South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church.