From left, Dean Christopher B. Roberts, Keith King, Charles Gavin, and Auburn University President Steven Leath
In March, the Auburn Alumni Association awarded four recipients, including two engineering alumni, with its highest honor – the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Charles E. Gavin III ’59, a graduate in textile management, spent many of his industry years with Columbus Carpet Mills, serving in several technical and managerial positions and rising to vice president of carpet manufacturing before founding MFG Chemical in 1980.
The early years of MFG were dedicated to carpet dyeing surfactants before moving into
chemicals for the oil service, water treatment, pulp and paper, mining and specialty surfactant industries serving a broad segment of the chemical industry’s top Fortune 100 and major international companies.
Among his technical achievements, Gavin was the first to successfully develop acid-dyed filament carpet, which is now the industry standard. He retired from MFG Chemical in 2017 as chairman and CEO.
He has served as president of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists and treasurer of its foundation.
Gavin was named the 2003 Textile Engineering Alumnus of the Year, was the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Auburn Engineer Award presented by the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2016. He has been recognized for a strong history of philanthropy, providing scholarship support to Auburn University since the late 1960s, while also providing scholarship programs at Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina State, Vanderbilt and the University of Rhode Island.
Gavin is a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association.
Keith King ’58, a civil engineering graduate, joined Volkert Inc. as a project engineer in 1960 after being hired by Chairman David G. Volkert. As an accomplished professional engineer licensed in eight states, King obtained national recognition for many of the projects he has engineered and managed, such as the Interstate 10 Twin Bridges over Mobile Bay, which was named one of the Ten Outstanding Engineering Achievements of 1978 by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Keith served as president of Volkert from 1983 until 2007 and CEO until his retirement in 2012 after 52 years of service.
King worked hard to improve the areas of licensure, continuing professional development, ethical standards and professionalism through two terms as chairman of the Alabama Licensure Board for the Business Council of Alabama; as president of the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers; as vice president-southeast for the National Society of Professional Engineers; and as a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
King was named a Distinguished Auburn Engineer by the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council in 1990 and was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2002. King is a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association.
