News

Vaughan Fitzpatrick, Westfeldt descendant and Ferncliff Park visionary, dies

By Bill Moss, Published: November 2, 2025

Vaughan Fitzpatrick, a native of New Orleans, world-traveling oil company executive and a fifth generation descendant of the Westfeldts of Rugby Grange who never forgot his connection to the Fletcher community, died on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in New Orleans. Cause of death was an aggressive form of cancer that was discovered only a few weeks ago, family members said.

Born Victor Vaughan Owen Fitzpatrick to Frances James Gasquet Westfeldt “Coo” Fitzpatrick and William Harry Fitzpatrick, Vaughan enjoyed a successful and colorful career in key postings around the world for the Chevron Oil Co.

His lasting contribution to Henderson County and its industrial and tourism economy came in his visionary decision, along with his brothers, to sell the family land between the Asheville Regional Airport and the French Broad River to form Ferncliff Industrial Park.

Fitzpatrick was among the successful line of descendants of Gustaf Adolphus George Westfeldt, patriarch of the Rugby Grange and the vast landholdings around it. A Swedish immigrant who excelled in business and banking, founded the coffee-importing business in New Orleans and prized higher education for all his children — sons and daughters alike — G.A.G. Westfeldt and his wife, Jane McLoskey Westfeldt, were contemporaries of George Washington Fletcher, the physician, builder, Confederate Army surgeon and civic leader for whom the town is named; the nationally syndicated humorist Bill Nye, the renowned poet Sidney Lanier, of Tryon; and many other early Fletcher settlers.

Among Vaughan’s cousins in his generation were Thomas Dugan Westfeldt II, who in 1976 became the fifth generation Westfeldt to work at Westfeldt Brothers Inc., the New Orleans-based green coffee import company, and, since 1985, has served as the coffee importer’s president; Chaffe McIlhenny, of Jeter Mountain; and Paul C.P. McIlhenny, the Tabasco Co. CEO who died in 2013; and many other peers accomplished in business, medicine, historic preservation, the arts and other fields.

The vision of Vaughan and other Henderson County leaders — county commission Chair Bill Moyer, Bill Lapsley (a civil engineer in private practice at the time and one of the founders decades earlier of the Committee of 100), Partnership for Economic Development President/CEO Andrew Tate, Partnership board members, Duke Power and many more — led to the creation of the 262-acre Ferncliff Industrial Park. The property became home to Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., one of the region’s top tourist attractions, GF Linamar and FedEx. Those leaders recognized that the land was the perfect site for manufacturing — mostly flat, next to a regional airport, minutes from a 5-lane state highway and (the now six- and eight-lane) I-26. Creation of Ferncliff was crucial, given that only 1 percent of land in Henderson County is zoned industrial and most sites are less than 50 acres. 

The third of four boys born to William and Frances Fitzpatrick, Vaughan attended Woodberry Forest School, the University of Colorado and Tulane Law School. He learned Arabic at MECAS in Lebanon and at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, and following his father’s footsteps, joined the U.S. Navy, serving as an officer in the Sixth Fleet in Naples, Italy. 

Working for Chevron, he lived in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, India, Turkey, London and Moscow. His deep interest and respect for Arabic culture made him welcome at tables from Beirut to Khartoum. "Vaughan of Arabia" was his affectionate sobriquet in Saudi. His many overseas postings provided rich fodder for his stories — some true, some embellished — that fascinated his contemporaries and mesmerized his grandchildren. 
When they weren't traveling the world, Vaughan and his first wife, Mary, cherished their time in Hendersonville. After retiring from Chevron, Vaughan threw himself into relocating the family’s home in the mountains, the Green House, in order to preserve its spirit. With the help of the Whole Log Co. in Zirconia, he coordinated the disassembly and reassembly of the historic family home on Bryson Mountain, a ridgetop the family knew as Two-Jack mountain for the barter of two donkeys for the hilltop. Vaughan enjoyed nothing more than hiking the ridge, a grandchild strapped to his chest while he crooned songs of his youth and told tall tales. 
Vaughan was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary, after a loving 41 years of marriage. When Vaughan met Melissa, his beloved second wife, her companionship rekindled his joie de vivre. They shared a love of adventure and wanderlust and traveled the world in the years they had together. Vaughan is survived by Melissa, and by his and Mary's two sons, Fletcher and Welles, and his three grandchildren.

The family expects to details of a funeral service, to be held in New Orleans, on Nov. 12.