Georgia-Pacific [SEP] inception
by Owen Robertson Cheatham in 1927 in Augusta, Georgia, as the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Co. Over the years it expanded, adding sawmills and plywood plants. The company acquired its first West Coast facility in 1947 and changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Plywood & Lumber Company in 1948. In 1956, the company changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Corporation. In 1957 the company entered the pulp and paper business by building a kraft pulp and linerboard mill at Toledo, Oregon. The company continued to make a series of acquisitions
Marcus, the founder of the Georgia Aquarium, hired Swanagan as the aquarium's first employee in 2002. Marcus had donated approximately $250 million for the establishment of the Georgia Aquarium. The remaining $40 million came from corporations such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Georgia-Pacific, AirTran, Southern Companies, SunTrust Bank and AT&T.
Swanagan became the Atlanta institution's founding executive director and president. Swanagan helped to guide the Georgia Aquarium its inception in 2002. He worked with the aquarium's biologists to design