He served as its chairman and chief executive officer, and took it public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1963.
[3] The firm initially sold the Ediphone, a phonograph cylinder made by Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and later machines used in offices.
[2] By 1976, the company was criticized for incurring the 1973–75 recession as their products led to a lesser need for secretarial employees and thus higher unemployment.
[1] In 1942, in the midst of World War II, Lanier and his brothers acquired 50% of the Oxford Manufacturing Company, a textile concern of uniforms for the United States Army headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
[2] In 1958, the Lanier brothers acquired the Freezer Shirt Corporation of Gaffney, South Carolina.
[7] By 1968, the Gaffney subsidiary was known as the Carolina Apparel Co.[8] That same year, the company reported record sales and profits.
[2] Lanier married Claudia Gwynn Whitson in 1934; their wedding took place at the Wright Chapel of the Scarritt College for Christian Workers.