Cotton is a small shrub that dates back nearly 7,000 years and was one of the earliest crops grown by European settlers, having been planted at the Jamestown Colony in 1607.
Weil Brothers-Cotton, the international cotton merchandising firm located in Montgomery, does not date back quite that far, but the company has been the king of the cotton industry for a long time. And Robert Schoenhof Weil, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, has been a member of the firm’s top echelon for much of that time.
Born November 29, 1919, to parents Rossie Schoenhof and Adolph I. Weil, Sr., in Montgomery, Weil was the youngest of his parent’s four children. Robert Weil has risen through the ranks of his family-owned cotton firm to become one of the industry’s leading spokesmen, and he also is a noted philanthropist recognized by leading service groups for his continuous work and service.
His graduation in 1936 from Culver Military Academy was the beginning of an impressive education dossier. He entered Dartmouth College, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in 1940. Upon his graduation from Dartmouth College, Weil applied and was accepted to Harvard Business School where he received his M.B.A. in 1942.
After receiving his M.B.A., Weil fulfilled a commitment to his country as a second lieutenant, serving four years in World War II. During his time in the Army, he attended Command and General Staff School in 1945.
Following his discharge from the Army in 1946 he returned to his hometown of Montgomery to join Weil Brothers, a leading international raw cotton merchandising firm, which had been founded by his grandfather in 1878.
Continuing the family tradition, Weil and his older brother, Adolph “Bucks” I. Weil, Jr., became directors and officers of the company. At the start of their career with the company, Robert and his brother served as their father’s and uncle’s assistants and deputies while becoming increasingly involved in top-level decisions. Following their father’s death in 1968, Bucks became chairman and Robert president of Weil Brothers – Cotton, Inc. With the cotton industry valued at $4.5 billion, the brothers formed a holding company in 1980, Weil Enterprises and Investments, Ltd.
During this time, the brothers assumed corresponding roles with Bucks serving as president and Robert becoming chairman of the holding company. In addition to expanding their grandfather’s business around the world, Bucks and Robert were partners in Weil Hermanos, Inc., the Weil Selling Agency, and controlled the Swiss-based Unicosa. Robert has also served the company as co-chairman of the Board and chairman of the Executive Committee.
Weil also has been active in the cotton industry in several capacities. His first role in the industry came as the president of the American Cotton Shippers Association from 1963-64. He then went on to serve as director from 1962- 65 and 1973-74. He was also on the Board of Managers for the New York Cotton Exchange, director of the Atlantic Cotton Association, and a National Cotton Council delegate in 1963. Weil was also director of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, the 1977-78 associate director for the Liverpool Cotton Association, 1978 delegate for the International Federation of Cotton and Allied Textile Industries. Weil continued his involvement with the cotton industry on a national level when he was named a 1963 delegate of the International Cotton Advisory Committee and the White House Conference on Export Trade Expansion.
Weil said the reason he is so involved in the cotton industry was that “you have to be active in everything and participate in what goes on in the business.”
Following his return to Montgomery in 1946, Weil became an active participant in civic and arts organizations. He became a member of the Jaycees and was named Montgomery Jaycees Outstanding Young Man of the Year in 1948. By the 1980s, Weil was more than just a participant in civic organizations; he was their initiator and chairman. Among the organizations, he has chaired is the Men of Montgomery industrial arm, and he organized and chaired the Montgomery Long Range Planning Council. In addition, he initiated a movement to include women and African Americans in the organization, which then became known as the Committee of 100. Weil was also a board member of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce.
As a lifelong resident of Montgomery, Weil has been committed to making his community better by chairing organizations that benefit multiple groups of people. Among the groups Weil has supported is One Montgomery, a voluntary biracial organization dedicated to improving race relations in the community. He also participated in Leadership Montgomery and subsequently became a trustee of Leadership Alabama, all of which are dedicated to developing a cohesive leadership fabric in the Alabama community at large. Weil was also state chairman of Radio Free Europe, a key U.S. effort to break the East European Communist bloc.
Weil’s interest in charitable causes began in Montgomery as early as 1950 when he served as vice president of the Community Chest. Since then, he has been a board member of the local American Cancer Society and the Salvation Army He has also been active with United Way in various capacities and has played a vital role in its annual solicitations. Weil also was an original member of the Montgomery Area Community Foundation Board and was the Montgomery chairman for the United Negro College Fund. He also served on the board of the Eye Foundation Hospital of Birmingham and chaired the advisory board of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery.
His background gave him an appreciation for quality education, and he has been actively involved in educational institutions for much of his life. He has served as co-founder, president, board member, and board member emeritus of the Montgomery Academy Through his chairmanship of the Montgomery Long Range Planning Committee, he organized Blue Ribbon Committee on Public Education. The committee completed a special study of the Montgomery Public School system, which made several far-reaching recommendations to the County Board of Education. His activates were acknowledged with his election to the Alabama Academy of Honor.
Weil has also been devoted to Dartmouth, serving on the College Alumni Council, as area enrollment director, and working on the Annual Fund. He has served as trustee and trustee emeritus for more than 25 years for Wheaton College, his wife’s alma mater. And he has received the President’s Medal for his 20 years of service to Huntington College in Montgomery.
Weil has long been a lover of the arts and classical music. His wife, Virginia Loeb Weil, majored in art in college and is the former president of the Montgomery Museum. Weil, along with his brother Bucks, has enjoyed collecting fine art for many years. More than just collecting art, however, Weil fulfilled his wife’s dream of relocating the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts to a new and larger location with advanced facilities. He also was a member of the committee that launched Art Inc., a traveling exhibition of American corporate arc coast-to-coast and through South America. He also served as the first chairman of the Montgomery Business Committee for the Arts and is currently on the Board of Overseers of the Hood Museum of Dartmouth College.
As a young boy, Weil loved to listen to classical music with his mother, and that love is reflected today in his dedication to the Board of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and his service to the Overseers of the Board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Weil has been active in the reform Jewish faith as a leader in congregational affairs at Temple Beth Or, where he served as a board member and president for two terms in the 1960s. He and his wife have three children, Virginia “Vicki” Weil, Rosalind W. Markstein, and Robert S. Weil II.
Robert Weil has had a long and successful career with Weil Brothers – Cotton Inc., but he also has left an indelible mark on his community and the arts.
