Pamplin Financial Woes Continue

A flurry of new public records show that one subsidiary, Ross Island Sand & Gravel, continues to struggle with paying its bills.

PROPERTY OF BOB: Cyclist departs the northern gateway of the Springwater Corridor, with the former Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co. Drymix Concrete Plant in background (Brian Burk)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Indications of a cash squeeze affecting the R.B. Pamplin Corp. and its subsidiaries continue to mount.

As WW has previously reported (“Walking on Water,” WW, Dec. 6, 2023), the company’s owner and chief executive, Dr. Robert Pamplin, has seen the inherited fortune that once placed him on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans dwindle to the point that he’s sold dozens of Pamplin Corp. and subsidiaries’ properties to the company’s defined benefit pension plan, often at prices that appear inflated.

Late last month, a flurry of new public records show that one subsidiary, Ross Island Sand & Gravel, continues to struggle with paying its bills.

The Multnomah County tax assessor filed liens showing $79,963 in unpaid taxes on RISG equipment. (RISG and affiliates also owe at least $223,000 to Multnomah County in delinquent property taxes.) And labor unions that work for RISG in California registered a $551,000 federal court judgment from the Central District of California here in April in an attempt to collect unpaid benefits.

Pamplin officials did not respond to a request for comment.

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