Dr. Richard Phillips and Mrs. Mary W. "Sistee" Phillips

The Phillips Family Scholarship Endowment was established in 2000 by Dr. Richard B. Phillips and his late wife, Mrs. Mary W. “Sistee” Phillips.

Dr. Phillips earned his bachelor’s, masters, and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University. He served as International Paper’s senior vice president of technology from May 1995 until his retirement. In this position, he had overall responsibility for providing manufacturing and engineering services, as well as oversight of corporate research and development and environment, health and safety. He began his professional career with International Paper in 1971 and held a variety of technical and engineering positions including manager-manufacturing technical services for the pulp and paper sector and manager-chemical process technology. In addition to his degrees from NC State, Dr. Phillips completed postdoctoral work at the University of Grenoble in France.

Mrs. Phillips was a graduate of Ashley Hall and the College of Charleston. She met her husband while working at West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company in Charleston, SC. She was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother who loved working in her magnificent yard and gardens, hosting her friends and family at the beach, and driving back and forth across the Southeast with one of her many beloved dogs riding in the front seat next to her.