Born in Hoboken, New Jersey,[1] Dunlap graduated from West Point before being employed by Lily Tulip Cup and Scott Paper.
Dunlap mentored James Packer for three years in the late 1980s.[2]
Dunlap believed that the primary goal of any business should be to make money for its shareholders. To that end, he believed in making widespread cuts, including massive layoffs, in order to streamline operations. By firing thousands of employees at once and closing plants and factories, he drastically altered the economic status of such corporations as Scott Paper and Crown Zellerbach. He sold Scott Paper to Kimberly-Clark in 1995 for $7.8 billion and walked away with a $100 million golden parachute.