In Memory: Heriot “Rhett” Clarkson ’61

Heriot “Rhett” Clarkson ’61, a former VMI Board of Visitors member and former VMI Keydet Club president, died June 20, 2025. He was 87.

The son of Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Simons Clarkson, Clarkson was born in Houston, Texas, March 4, 1938. After finishing high school at St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria, Virginia, he entered VMI as a civil engineering major in September 1957.

Clarkson often joked about his academic challenges at the Institute, but those jokes were factually based. At the end of his 3rd Class year, for example, the Institute required him to repeat the year academically. Like many other alumni who struggled as cadets, however, Clarkson achieved impressive professional success and was steadfastly loyal to VMI.

From 1962–63, he worked for the California Highway Department, after which he served in the U.S. Army for 2 years as an artillery officer. He then returned to Virginia, worked in highway construction for a year, and then joined the Richmond firm Concrete Pipe & Products, Inc.—the president of which was Stanley R. Navas, Class of 1941.

Navas often exhorted people to “have the guts, energy, and imagination to follow and fight for your dream.” While there is no evidence that Clarkson heard it, in 1968, he certainly made a bold move. As a 1971 article in the Richmond News-Leader put it, he “quit his job, sold his house, and began looking for other employment.”

Northern Virginia was then in the early stages of the building boom that would dramatically reshape the area. Based on his experience, Clarkson knew that the area’s construction industry had a pressing need for precast concrete products. He also realized the demand would outstrip the capability of even well-established companies to meet it. So, Clarkson and a partner invested $5,000 each in a new company: Virginia Precast Corporation.

With three employees, they opened a facility in Ashland, Virginia, in October 1968. At the end of its first year, the company’s sales topped $100,000—and Clarkson bought out his partner for $50,000. In 1971, the company had 30 employees and built a $300,000 plant in Hanover County. By 1972, its sales were close to $1 million.

In 1989, Virginia Precast Corporation had 200 employees and was well established in Northern Virginia and the Tidewater region. That year, Clarkson sold the company to ESSROC, a large cement company based in Pennsylvania. He remained with ESSROC as a regional manager for 2 years and then as a consultant when the company became Americast. His many and varied entrepreneurial ventures included his primary one: Specialty funding for construction lending.

Clarkson served business and civic organizations, including the Virginia Utility Contractors Council (which he led as president), Heavy Utility Contractors Association, Horne Engineering Service, the Tredegar Trust, Elk Hill Farm Home for Boys, the George C. Marshall Foundation, and the Windsor Farms Association. An active citizen, he was the chairman of the Public Safety Committee of the Governor’s Commission on Government Reform and a member of the State Air Pollution Control Advisory Board and the Small Business Advisory Board. He played a major role in the revival of Little League baseball in Richmond in the 1980s and 1990s, increasing the number of active teams from two to 36 by 1997.

Clarkson’s devotion to VMI was exemplary. Active among Richmond-area alumni, he often hosted events, including get-togethers after VMI vs. University of Richmond football games and gatherings for incoming rats and their parents at his home.

John Marshall ’77 remembers Clarkson for doing “a remarkable job of advocating for VMI in his business life, and he played a large role in helping the generation behind him come deeper into the VMI alumni ranks and into the business side of construction and its related activities in Central Virginia.

“He was a very generous person and always tried to include others in his own good fortune— particularly his fellow VMI men,” he continued. “He did too much for VMI to even attempt to recount it all, but he was very well known to the larger community that supports the Institute.”

A firm believer in athletics’ value to VMI, Clarkson joined the VMI Keydet Club’s board in 1976 and served as its president from 1981–83. In 1987, he honored his father by endowing the Chaplain Thomas Simons Clarkson Memorial Scholarship to support cadet-athletes. He was also a consistent and generous annual donor to the Keydet Club.

Clarkson was co-chairman of his class’ 25th Reunion Campaign Committee and on the 50th Reunion Campaign Committee. Both efforts realized significant gifts and commitments in support of VMI, with the latter raising more than $8.6 million. He was also a member of the Leadership Gifts Committee of the Campaign for VMI.

Clarkson served on the Board of Visitors from 1994–2002 and was on numerous committees and subcommittees, including the Cadet Affairs Committee. Throughout his service, he was devoted to improving barracks life, upholding the class system, and strengthening the honor system. He fervently advocated the need to maintain high standards of behavior within the Corps of Cadets.

His BOV service coincided with the legal battle about the admission of women and the early years of their presence in barracks. In 1996, Clarkson became part of the team that addressed the many issues related to the admission of women. In July 1997, then-Superintendent Maj. Gen. Josiah Bunting III ’63 wrote to him, “[Y]ou played a wonderful role in the future of VMI. Your time and effort … were key to the … development of the successful plan to assimilate women into the Corps. … The entire VMI community is grateful to you.”

Michael Strickler ’71, former VMI sports information director and later the leader of VMI’s public relations office, who often encountered Clarkson, said Clarkson “gave freely of himself for the betterment of VMI. I always remember him with a smile on his face and ready to laugh regardless of the situation.”

“Rhett was very proud of VMI,” said Gregory M. Cavallaro ’84, former Keydet Club executive vice president. “He’ll be long remembered for his willingness to contribute his time, talent, and generosity.”

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Janice “Jan” Clarkson, three sons, and six grandchildren.