Gary Reed was never far from the family business, even when he actually was.

As a Marine Corps officer in Taiwan in the 1960s, Reed regularly received what could be considered unusual mail: financial reports from his father about Simpson Timber, a lumber, paper and plastics maker founded by his great-grandfather in 1890. Reed was overseas, but his father was going to make sure his education in business continued. "He was trying to get me on a ramp," Reed says, "a very gradual one."

To say that his father's strategy worked is an understatement. William Garrard Reed Jr., 68, has served on more public company boards than anyone else in Washington state. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for his service as a director of companies. He has helped lead global giants, from moving Safeco Corp. out of trouble and assisting Washington Mutual's rise to the top of the U.S. thrifts industry, to stepping in when Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer locked horns over the direction of Microsoft Corp. Reed now serves on the boards of five major companies: Safeco, Washington Mutual Inc., Paccar Inc., Green Diamond Resource Company, a forest products company, and The Seattle Times Co.

He is a powerful business leader, but he doesn't show it off. Judy Runstad, a Seattle attorney, civic leader and veteran of corporate boards, says Reed never joins a board "out of some sense of ego. He just does it because he has a sense of responsibility." Reed is softspoken and self-effacing. Tall and wiry, he wears round-rimmed glasses and often puts a thumb and forefinger to a furrowed brow as he gathers his thoughts. There are moments when his competitive side flares, such as when he discusses one of his passions: fly-fishing. It's an activity that helps him relax and see the world differently, but he doesn't do it just to be out in nature. "I get plenty frustrated," he says, "particularly when others are catching fish and I'm not."

Reed, who holds degrees from Duke and Harvard, shies away from the spotlight. He prefers to focus on the work. He is quick to point out his mistakes as a corporate director and what he learned. And he downplays the glowing praise inherent in a lifetime achievement award. "I've been around for a while," he says. "It probably reflects longevity as much as anything else."

Reed began his ascent in the business world in the 1970s. His father, William Reed Sr., handed him the job of chairman of the board at Simpson Timber and encouraged him to serve on other boards as well. Reed lived modestly, despite coming from a wealthy family and being groomed for business. For many years, he drove a 1969 Buick Riviera. "My parents were conservative people," he says. "No conspicuous consumption."

Reed joined Washington Mutual, where his low-key personal style and absorption of details garnered attention and respect. Dan Evans, the former governor of Washington, sat on the Washington Mutual board alongside Reed. He recalls a detail about Reed that caught the others' attention: his battered brown Oxford shoes. "Everybody used to kid him on the fact that the shoes he wore were very well utilized," Evans says. "It was a measure of the fact that he didn't want to waste things." Although he was a young man, Reed was looked up to "as one of the seniors," Evans adds. "He was well prepared. He was very probing into detail. He was a very active board member."

In his role as a longtime director on the board of Safeco, Reed helped steady the company, which, after decades of success, took on enormous debt in 1997 by paying $2.8 billion to purchase American States Financial, an Indianapolis insurance company.