Hawkins, Herman Bruce, 1889-1981
Biographical Note
Herman Bruce "Bill" Hawkins, son of William B. and Alice G. Slayton Hawkins, was born in Waverly, Virginia, in 1889. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BS in electrical engineering in 1910. Hawkins worked for General Electric in Schenectady, New York from 1910 until 1913, when he was hired as an electrical engineer for Canadian Explosives, Ltd., in Montreal. Hawkins founded the Hawkins-Hamilton Company in Richmond, Virginia in 1914, and served as the company's president until retiring in 1959. He was an active alumnus of Virginia Tech, serving as the alumni association's first vice president and president and was also a member of the association's board of directors and the Alumni Fund Council. Hawkins married Mary Edith Lynn in 1919; the couple had two children. Herman B. Hawkins died on March 1, 1981 and was buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.