In Dec. 2004, David H. Murdock purchased the former Cannon Mills site at auction, future home of the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC).

On February 23, 2006, groundbreaking was held for the first building of the NCRC, the 311,000-square-foot David H. Murdock Core Laboratory.

David H. Murdock is chair, CEO and a major shareholder of Dole Food Company, a Fortune 500 company, and chair, CEO and owner of Castle & Cooke, a private company.