Graham enjoyed the work, but by the early ’80s he felt a desire to make a change. Then one night he woke up at 3 a.m., sat straight up in bed and heard a message so clearly it might have been whispered in his ear: He should start his own company.
Within a few days, Graham had drawn up a business plan. Not long after, he secured a loan against his house. In 1983, he founded Quality Biological Inc., which provides products and supplies for molecular and cellular biology labs.
Graham never got a chance to finish work on his marketing degree at UMUC—the company took off too quickly. It was a much different future than the one he’d once dreamed of, but one he embraced.
“Growing up, we were taught that the Lord has a destiny planned for each of us, and that we were lucky if we managed to move through life with acceptance and not fight our own destiny,” Graham says. “It took an awful lot of faith to listen to that little voice leading me to my destiny, but I think I’m fortunate I was able to do so.”
When Graham started Quality Biological, his oldest daughter was a freshman at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. She now works for a defense contractor. He sent his youngest daughter to the University of Virginia. She went into pharmaceuticals before going to work at Quality Biological.
After putting them through school, Graham extended that assistance to others in the community. In 1992, he established the Quality Biological Biotechnology Endowed Scholarship, which is aimed at young African-American men interested in studying biosciences. Graham set stringent requirements for recipients, starting with a 7 a.m. interview in his office.
“My thinking was, if someone can’t show up at 7 a.m. for free money to go to school, I can’t expect that person to be successful in school,” Graham says.
Graham also lent his support to the George B. Thomas Sr. Learning Academy, a tutoring and mentoring program in Montgomery County. He chaired the Montgomery College Foundation Scholarship Committee, and served on the advisory board of the college’s Macklin Business Institute (MBI). And in 2010, he and his wife, Dorothy, established the Solomon and Dorothy Graham Endowed Scholarship to benefit biotech and business students at MBI.
Hercules Pinkney, president emeritus at Montgomery College, says Graham’s own success story serves as “an inspiration to students.” Whether Graham is working with a scholarship recipient or talking to a friend, Pinkney says, he’s “others-oriented.”
“I don’t know of an instance when someone approached him for help, financial or otherwise, when he didn’t respond,” Pinkney says.
Pinkney recalls a business trip on which Graham quietly paid for the room and board of a colleague who had lost his wallet. “The person didn’t even ask,” Pinkney says. “Sol saw a need, and he provided.”
Graham also spent years serving on the boards of local businesses and civic organizations, including Leadership Montgomery, Sandy Spring Bank, Strathmore, Easter Seals and the Economic Advisory Council of Montgomery County—activities that contributed to Graham being named the 2013 Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year. He has retired from some of those boards in recent years, and since has transferred leadership of Quality Biological to his youngest daughter, Angela Graham, though he remains chairman of its board.
His retirement plans include traveling and spending time with family. At 90, his mother still lives on the family farm, and his younger brother is a retired Army colonel living in Hampton, Va.
County Executive Ike Leggett, Graham’s longtime tennis partner, says little about his friend has changed with retirement.
“Some people are identified with a particular cause or board,” Leggett says. “But for Sol, giving back is part of his religious faith. It’s part of the basic core of who he is.”
About the Award
Each year, The Community Foundation for Montgomery County (CFMC) recognizes successful area businesspeople who “give where they live,” as the organization puts it.
Recipients of the Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year award are: the late Josh Freeman in 2007; Craig Ruppert in 2008; Stewart Bainum in 2009; Carol Trawick in 2010; Jeffrey Slavin in 2011; Patrice and Scott Brickman in 2012; and Solomon Graham this year.
If you would like to nominate someone to be the 2014 Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year, watch for the announcement in the March/April 2014 issue of Bethesda Magazine or go to the magazine’s website, BethesdaMagazine.com. To learn more about CFMC, a regional affiliate of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, go to www.thecommunityfoundationmc.org.
Amy Reinink is a frequent contributor to the magazine who also writes for Runner’s World and other outdoor publications.
