Induction Year: 2001

R. C. Cobb

  • October 6th, 2021

If you enjoy a good movie in comfortable surroundings, you need to thank Rowland Chappell Cobb, Jr., the founder of Cobb Theatres, which set the industry standards for movie exhibitions in the South and across much of the nation.

Cobb, better known as “R.C.” to his friends, followed the philosophy that “a leader never stops looking ahead.” When Cobb Theatres was sold in 1997 to Regal Cinemas, Cobb owned 643 screens and had plans to add up to 200 more screens within the following two years.

Cobb was born in Vernon, Alabama in 1921, the son of Rowland Chappell Cobb and Lucille Richards Cobb. It was only fitting that he should become a force in the movie theatre business. In fact, his first job, at age 11 in 1932, was sweeping up popcorn boxes and candy wrappers in one of his grandfather’s theatres in Fayette. As Cobb grew older, he learned how to do everything involved in the upkeep of a theatre, including taking tickets, selling popcorn, and operating the projector.

But it was operating the special effects that Cobb liked the best. To add realism to silent movies, theatre operators often played sound effects on an organ. When a dog ran across the screen, Cobb pushed a button to make the sound of a barking dog. If a telephone was supposed to ring on-screen, Cobb pushed the telephone “button.”

As he grew up, Cobb had aspirations of becoming a lawyer and left Fayette for The University of Alabama. He didn’t become a lawyer, but he did receive a history degree from the University in 1942. That same year, he entered the Navy, and his movie theatre life was put on pause. As a lieutenant junior grade, he became involved with theatres of a different kind: theatres of war. He was the commander of an ILS, an infantry landing ship, in the European Theatre. His ship unloaded infantrymen onto the beaches at Salerno, Anzio, Elba, and Southern France during the Mediterranean invasions.

After the war, Cobb returned to Fayette with an honorable discharge and some ideas about the movie theatre business. He started in his hometown of Fayette, where his mother had purchased two theatres from her father in 1936. Cobb went to work for his mother in 1946 and later bought the two theatres.  His new company became R.C. Cobb, Inc.

Cobb attributed much of his business acumen to his mother, who also influenced his choice of career and his outlook on his chosen profession. Cobb often said that his mother impressed upon him that movies had been declared obsolete or dead several times but always came back stronger than ever because of technological advances and new generations of stars.

From 1948 to 1965, Cobb built or purchased 19 theatres, both drive-in and indoor, in small Alabama towns. He built in the smaller towns, he said, because that was what he knew best. But after managing the smaller town theatres for a while, Cobb felt something was changing in America. He drove all over the Southeast, talking to his managers, checking the books, and examining other details. Cobb then realized people were moving to larger towns and cities and becoming more and more interested in entertainment. And while the new phenomenon, television, threatened to take the movie industry’s number one spot in entertainment, Cobb pressed on. He told The Birmingham News in 1991 “television was a great boom to our business. It produced young actors and actresses as finished products when they get to the movies.”

Because of his attention to detail, his charm, and his wit, Cobb convinced lenders that an expanding movie business would pay off. With the go-ahead from the banks, Cobb embarked on an expansion project across the Southeast.

In the early 1960s, Cobb began building theatres in Atlanta, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville. He expanded and bought the theatre interests of N.H. Waters and RM. Kennedy in Birmingham, a total of 11 locations. R.C. Cobb, Inc. now operated some 27 theatres.

In 1971 the corporation built the first four-screen theatre in the U.S. In 1978, it opened the largest eight-screen facility in the nation. A decade ago, Cobb built the Sawgrass 18, which became the largest theatre east of the Rocky Mountains. And six years ago, the Hollywood 20 in Naples, Florida, became the largest theatre in Florida.

Cobb Theatres showed significant revenue growth over the past decade, climbing from $38.8 million in revenue in 1989 to $119.1 million in 1996. In 1996 alone, Cobb customers consumed 1.3 million pounds of popcorn, 5.6 million gallons of soft drinks, and 2.4 million candy items. When he turned 53, Cobb decided it was time to retire. He and his wife, Sonja, moved to Naples, Florida for several years. While living in Naples, he realized the growth happening in Florida and began expanding Cobb Theatres throughout the state. So back into the movie business he went, along with two of his four children. Robert Martin Cobb served as the corporation’s president and Jefferson Richards Cobb was executive vice president and secretary/ treasurer. He also has two daughters, Martha Cobb Keith, and Lucille Cobb McVay.

Cobb remained chairman of the board.

In 1997, when Cobb Theatres was sold, it was the largest theatre company in the state of Florida with more than 500 screens, and the 10th largest theatre company in the United States with a total of 643 screens throughout the Southeast.

While movie theatres were the heart of his businesses, Cobb also once owned a lumber mill and an auto dealership.

He made time to attend to civic charitable endeavors. He was a member of the board of stewards at Canterbury Methodist Church and Fayette Methodist Church. In Fayette, he was a member of the Rotary Club, the Exchange Club, and chairman of the Industrial Board. As chairman, he was instrumental in bringing several manufacturing plants to the city. In recognition, he was named Man of the Year in 1952. He also served on the Alabama Film Commission and was a past president of the National Association of Theatre Owners.

He has been a benefactor to the Fayette Boy Scouts, the Alabama Eye Foundation, and the Jimmy Hale Mission. He has used his theatres to collect tons of canned goods annually for distribution to the Red Cross and United Way. In 1996, the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive topped out at more than 27 tons of canned food. His theatres have exhibited a strong tradition of community partnership, hosting community events, providing free tickets to special needs groups, and offering special days at the movies for individual groups.

Cobb Theatres has always been committed to the principles of sound management, quality facilities, and customer satisfaction. When the theatres were purchased, the new owners said they were in “no hurry to immediately change the names.” Nor should they be. The Cobb name has always represented the kind of value and performance that has kept American business vital.

General. Edward M. Friend

  • October 6th, 2021

No man has been more aptly named than Edward M. Friend, Jr. General Friend, as he was proud to be called, was a friend to, and a friend of, everyone. His civic and philanthropic endeavors on the part of Birmingham and Alabama are legendary. And his military service was an inspiration to a grateful nation.

General Friend was born in Birmingham on May 1, 1912, the son of Edward M. and May Gusfield Friend. He attended South Highland Grammar School in Birmingham and graduated from Phillips High School. He attended The University of Alabama where he graduated in 1933, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry reserve. He earned his law degree at Alabama in 1935 and returned to Birmingham to practice law. Three years later, he married Hermione Curjel, a union that would last for 58 years, and produce two children, Edward M. Friend III, and Ellen Friend Elsas.

In 1941, he went on active military duty, launching what would become an exemplary military career. He expected to complete a one-year tour of duty and return to his law practice. Those expectations ended with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. His military outfit moved to California where he attended desert training and general staff school. In 1943 he was ordered to North Africa to participate in the invasion of Sicily with the Second Army commanded by General Omar Bradley. General Friend returned to the United States later that year but left shortly thereafter on the Queen Mary for England to prepare for the Normandy invasion.

General Friend landed at Utah Beach on June 7, and his unit, the Seventh Corps, participated in the capture of Cherbourg, the breakthrough at St. Lo, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally, the invasion of Germany where his unit met the Russians near Leipzig.

General Friend earned several military decorations during the war. He received the Legion of Merit with Cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, the European Campaign Ribbon with seven battle stars and the bronze arrowhead for the landing in Normandy, and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.

He eventually was reassigned to the Pentagon and released from active duty as a full colonel. He was on active duty for five years, and served another 26 years in the Army Reserve, attaining the rank of Brigadier General. In his final days, he was named a Major General in the Alabama National Guard and was honored with a proclamation of General Edward Friend Day throughout the state.

Following his World War II service, General Friend resumed his law practice. In 1945 he joined Morris Sirote, Jimmy Permutt, and Karl Friedman to found the law firm now known as Sirote and Permutt, one of the largest law firms in the state with more than 100 attorneys.

He took the role of the firm’s “rainmaker,” a lawyer who through his ability and personality attracts substantial and diverse clients to his firm. The four founders of the firm remained close friends throughout their lives.

While General Friend had many interests, he had a true passion for the law. He was one of the country’s great lawyers and specialized in the field of tax law and corporate and estate planning.

General Friend’s effective advocacy and keen intellect earned him a well-deserved reputation as a leader in the Bar. His strong interest in legal education and in the improvement of his profession earned him several honors. He was named Outstanding Alumnus at the School of Law at The University of Alabama, which, along with Birmingham-Southern College, awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He was named Lawyer of the Year, served as president of the Birmingham Bar Association, and as president of the University of Alabama Law School Foundation. He founded the Legal Aid Society in Birmingham, which provides legal help to those unable to afford a lawyer. He also was heavily involved in helping young lawyers develop their legal skills and impressed upon them the need to provide their clients with their best efforts.

General Friend derived immense satisfaction from community service. He served as president of the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, the Family Counseling Association, the Birmingham Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America (which presented him the Silver Beaver Award, its most prestigious honor), the Downtown Rotary Club, and the Metropolitan Arts Council. He was chairman of the 1982 United Way campaign at a time of high unemployment and the closing of U.S. Steel, formerly the campaign’s largest contributing unit. He led the campaign to what many said was an unbelievable success that resulted in Birmingham being highlighted nationally as one of ten cities in the “Winner’s Circle.”

He chaired the Alabama Bar Association’s Committee for the Study of Correctional Institutes and Procedures and was co-chairman of the Human Rights Committee appointed by the federal courts to deal with Alabama’s prison system.

He served as chairman of the President’s Cabinet of The University of Alabama and served on the boards of the Children’s Hospital, the Greater Birmingham Foundation, the Red Cross, the Birmingham Metropolitan Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lakeshore Foundation, Jewish Family Services, and many other organizations.

He was honored as Birmingham’s Man of the Year in 1983, named Outstanding Civic Leader by the Fund-Raising Executives, inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor, and received the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Throughout his life, General Friend worked to improve race relations in his city, his state, and his country.

Upon his death in 1995, several resolutions were adopted recognizing his many contributions to his community. A resolution adopted by the City Council of Birmingham recognized his outstanding generosity. A resolution by The Executive Committee and Advisory Board of the Birmingham Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America recognized his heroism, saying that General Friend” constantly reflected the values that make heroes – courage, optimism, intelligence, tolerance, and stamina.”

General Friend was a collector of quotes, and one of his favorites was this one from Leo Rosten, the writer: “The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. Happiness, in the ancient, noble verse, means self-fulfillment and is given to those who use to their fullest whatever talents God, or luck, or fate bestowed upon them.”

Edward M. Friend, Jr., by all accounts, more than fulfilled his purpose in life, for he indeed mattered greatly.

James A. Head, Sr.

  • October 6th, 2021

James A Head, Sr. has two secrets to his longevity and his success in business: walking and working. As a young man, the founder, and owner of Head’s Office Products, a long-time and highly respected Birmingham business, he walked the streets of Birmingham delivering newspapers, cutting lawns, and later selling business machines and office supplies, which was the genesis of his business. And he never stopped working until he reached 92.

Head was born in Tiffin, Ohio, where his father, George Washington Head, a native of Kentucky, was in the insurance business. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Horton Head, was a native of Pleasant Ridge, Alabama. The family moved to Indianapolis where his father started his own insurance company. His father died in 1913, following an appendectomy, and his mother decided to take the family back to the South, to Birmingham. Following a 20-hour train ride from Indianapolis to Birmingham, the family settled into a new home in the Norwood section of town, where Head attended Barker Elementary School, and later Paul Hayne School, dropping out of high school after one year.

World War I brought difficult times and Head realized he needed to help put food on the family table. As a teenager, he mowed lawns and delivered newspapers around a large section of Birmingham. As the recession worsened, Head got a job with a wholesale drug company filling and delivering orders, working from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. for seven dollars a week. A year later he was offered another job as a foundry timekeeper, but the business soon closed. He then took another job as a timekeeper at Birmingham Stove and Range Company. A year and a half later, the opportunity came along that defined his lifetime career – he became a salesman of office systems, specifically reinforced tab folders, for Library Bureau.

For nearly 120 years the Library Bureau has been primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and installing wood shelving, library furniture, office furniture, and systems. The company was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey in Boston Massachusetts… “for the definite purpose of furnishing libraries with equipment and supplies of unvarying correctness and reliability.”

Head’s first big sale was to Alabama Power, an order for 40,000 file folders and 40 steel, four-drawer file cabinets. After little more than a year with the company, he became the Birmingham manager for the company and proceeded to win the company’s national sales contest for three straight years.

In 1925, at the age of 21, Head was called to New Orleans by the Library Bureau to replace his former boss who had resigned. But it was a short stint in the Crescent City. His former boss offered to back him financially if he would return to Birmingham with his family and open his own business. So in November of 1926, Head opened an office in downtown Birmingham. He walked the streets and met the owners of the city’s businesses, introduced them to new ideas in office furnishings, suggested ways to save space, found ways to be more efficient, save time, and access accounts more quickly. And he showed them how all of this could save money.

In 1927 he married Eugenia Evans. The couple had four children: James A. Head Jr., Alan E. Head, Eugene E. Head, and Virginia Head Gross. Mrs. Head passed away in 1981.

Things developed quickly. The office became too small, more employees were needed, and product lines were added, including a new, more comfortable, adjustable office chair that provided back support to the many female employees who sat most of the day at a desk or table. From there, the company progressed to selling methods of record protection, and then to dictation machines, copiers, and other equipment, with Head always bringing new ideas in offices supplies to his customers.

Banks, insurance companies, libraries, government offices – all were equipped by Head’s Office Products.

When World War II came along, Head was 41 years old and had three children, and was not accepted for duty. But he used his sales and marketing savvy to support the war effort in dozens of ways: Chairing the Victory Bond drives (he offered nylon hose to those who bought the bonds), arranging other war memorials, and thank-you tributes to returning servicemen after the war.

Head Office Products continued to grow and flourish, adding new products and offering new ideas. Head’s company equipped the University of Alabama Law School Library, the state Supreme Court Library, the Amelia Gorgas Library, and the Auburn University Library, among many others. In fact, Head estimates that his company has equipped 80 percent of the libraries in Alabama. The Alabama Library Association has recognized him for his work in helping communities around the state garner local support for constructing community libraries, especially in the 1970s as libraries began to be considered essential to the community.

Always on the lookout for new products and new ways to help his customers, Head discovered in Wisconsin a device called a “stack mover” that could be used to move large numbers of books at one time, keeping them in order so that carpets and floors could be cleaned or replaced, and libraries could be rearranged, or construction work could be done. The device has saved Alabama libraries thousands of dollars in manpower and time. In 1996, “at the tender middle age of 92,” as Head puts it, he decided to retire. Head sold his company to Scholar Craft Products, Inc., a Birmingham business.

Throughout his busy life, Head has made time to serve the city of Birmingham and the state of Alabama in a variety of positions and roles. He was one of the original 100 people who each gave $1,000 to buy the property that has become The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He has served as president of the Birmingham Rotary Club, president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, general chairman of the United Appeal and Red Cross, as a member of the Alabama Advisory Committee to the Civil Rights Committee, and as a member of the Samford University Board of Trustees. He served on the Jefferson County Personnel Board and headed the 1968 fundraising campaign for the Alabama Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

He has been recognized for his work with a variety of awards, including his selection as Birmingham’s “Man of the Year” in 1949. In 1988, he was honored with a dinner given by Friends of the Birmingham Public Library.

But he lists his service on the state chapter of the National Association of Christians and Jews and the battle against intolerance as “the most important thing I have ever done.” He served the association for 60 years, 20 of those as chairman emeritus.

Head remains active with his friends from the Birmingham Rotary Club and enjoys the company of his four children, 11 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren, three of who have just graduated from college.

So, the next time you seek sanctuary in one of the state’s many libraries, say a word of thanks to Jim Head. Augustine Birrell, the English politician, and man of letters wrote that “Libraries are not made; they grow.” Because of Jim Head, the libraries in Alabama are flourishing.

Wallace D. Malone, Jr.

  • October 6th, 2021

Wallace D. Malone Jr. was born into the banking business. And he has made the most of it. Malone basically built SouthTrust Corporation, which he has essentially run since 1972. He served as president until 1981 when he was elected chairman and chief executive officer. Over the past 29 years, SouthTrust has grown into one of the nation’s premier financial organizations.

His family entered banking over 100 years ago in one office in the heart of Dothan, Ala. The family bank, the First National Bank of Dothan, was chartered in 1900 by Malone’s grandfather with $50,000 in capital and $75,000 in deposits. That same bank is one of two forerunners of SouthTrust, now a $64 billion bank holding company – the largest financial organization in Alabama with the largest market value of any Alabama corporation.

Malone was born August 3, 1936, in Dothan, the son of Wallace D. Malone Sr. and Alice Mae Dee Malone. After graduating from high school in 1954, he enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University). After one year, Malone transferred to The University of Alabama where he received his bachelor’s degree in business in 1957. Upon graduation, he worked for a small bank in Enterprise, Ala., for about a year. His first duty was to post the bank’s general ledger with pen and ink and to get the ledger in balance with a hand-crank adding machine. In 1958 he left Enterprise to pursue an M.B.A. degree at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and he earned that degree a year later. In June of 1959, he returned to Alabama and joined his father in the family bank. When his father died in 1968, Wallace D. Malone Jr. was named chairman and chief executive officer of the First National Bank of Dothan.

In 1996, The Birmingham News named Malone “CEO of the Year” and described him as “relentless, shrewd and fiercely competitive.” Those attributes have served him well in a lot of bank and industry battles over the past 40-plus years.

The last three decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the banking industry, and Malone has been in the middle of those changes. In 1972, the first holding company was introduced into Alabama, which Malone and several banks opposed. One of Malone’s allies was Guy H. Caffey Jr., president of Birmingham Trust National Bank. When the Federal Reserve Board approved the formation of holding companies in Alabama that year, Malone told Caffey, “Since we can’t fight ’em, we’d better join ’em and we’d better be quick about it.”

Malone and Caffey then decided to organize SouthTrust. By the end of 1972, South Trust had acquired a bank in Mobile and a bank in Huntsville. SouthTrust had less than $600 million in assets at that time. In January of 1981, Guy Caffey retired, and Malone was named chairman and CEO. SouthTrust’s total assets by then were $1.8 billion.

Malone has been recognized repeatedly for his strong leadership of SouthTrust. His intellect, his ability to laugh at himself, his compassion, and his ability to focus on the job at hand has been documented many times.

In introducing Malone at a Newcomen Society meeting some years ago, former president and chief operating officer for SouthTrust, Roy Gilbert, told the following story:

“Every great leader that I have ever read about has demonstrated compassion. There is a lady who goes to my church who has cerebral palsy, but she still works and drives an automobile, although with some difficulty. She works in the SouthTrust Tower. One morning, Wallace followed her into the parking deck and noticed how difficult it was for her to get her card into the access box to open the gate. When he got to his office, he called me and asked me to arrange for her to have an automatic access opener for her car; and he said he would personally pay for it. I don’t think she ever knew where it came from.”

Malone’s compassion is equaled by his business acumen. He has built SouthTrust into a Fortune 500 company, with more than 680 banking offices in nine Southern states. With more than $47 billion in assets, SouthTrust is ranked among the top 20 banks in the country. The company has more than 12,500 employees, of whom a considerable number are shareholders.

A key strategy that initially set SouthTrust apart was the decision to enter only high-growth markets, in the belief that internal growth, not continuous acquisitions, was the best way to produce long-term, top-notch performance. Malone has been careful not to acquire banks that cannot match the company’s growth rate. And he has been careful not to acquire banks that dilute stockholder value. As for the concept that big is always better, cheaper, and more efficient, Malone has often said, “being big does not necessarily make you smart, and being small does not necessarily make you dumb.”

Malone has seen SouthTrust’s loan business significantly increase. In the beginning, the bank had slightly more than $200 million in total loans, of which only $40 million were commercial loans. SouthTrust now has more than $32 billion in loans, with more than $22 billion in commercial loans. Today, SouthTrust makes loans to a single customer equal to twice the amount of the entire commercial loan portfolio in 1972. Up until the economic slowdown that began in the middle of last year, SouthTrust’s loan portfolio was growing at $2.5 billion or more a year.

Stockholders have also done enormously well at SouthTrust. Stockholder equity, in the beginning, was less than $30 million, compared with $3.8 billion today. The bank’s net income was around $5 million in 1972, and it has compounded at an average rate of 19 percent per year in the 29 years since then. Today SouthTrust is earning at the rate of more than $500 million annually. Net income in 2001 will exceed the total assets of the initial organization.

Malone is a strong believer in the “SouthTrust culture” and in taking care of employees. Under his guidance, the company has developed one of the industry’s premier profit-sharing plans. “Take care of the employees and they will take care of you,” Malone says.

Malone’s management philosophy was outlined in a recent article: “You have to hire good, conscientious, intelligent people. You must give those people the benefit of receiving extremely good training. You must pay them well, you must keep them motivated and use pay incentives everywhere possible to reward performance. People, particularly those at all levels of management, need to feel that they have the possibility of upward mobility. Good people always want to improve themselves. Management must be perceived as fair with everyone. Sometimes you can be a rather strict manager if you are perceived as absolutely fair. You must do things when they ought to be done. You don’t do on Thursday what you should have done on Monday. You must understand that the customer is king. If you don’t take good care of your customers, you will wake up one day with no customers and no business.”

SouthTrust employees make 95-plus percent of the customer decisions at the market level Malone wants all customers to be called by name when they visit the offices and have a positive experience. He has often said, “All money is green, and you can get just about the same type checking account, CD, or loan at most banks. What really sets a bank apart from its competitors is its people. With nearly all types of businesses, the company with the best people almost always wins.”

Malone either serves or has served on a number of boards over the years, including Troy State University, Samford University, Baptist Health System of Birmingham, the Eye Foundation Hospital, the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, UAB Health System, Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Healthcare Council, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Salvation Army Advisory Board, Public Affairs Research Council, Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the Alabama-Florida Boy Scout Council, the Greater Alabama Boy Scout Coun­cil, the Federal Reserve Branch of Birmingham, and United Way. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, the President’s Cabinet of The University of Alabama, the Culverhouse College of Business Board of Visitors, the Newcomen Society of North America, the Birmingham Business Leadership Group, and the Quarterback Club of Birmingham.

Malone is married to the former Ocllo Boykin Smith and they have six children and eleven grandchildren. He and his wife have traveled extensively, and he has skied and hunted on three continents.

Malone has been involved in many diverse, non-business activities that include tennis, golf, hunting, fishing, water and snow skiing, scuba diving, skeet shooting, flying (he earned his pilot’s license in 1955), archery, building cars, chess, and bridge. He truly is a man for all seasons.

E. Stanley Robbins

  • October 6th, 2021

Stanley Robbins was born August 19, 1908, in the rough-and-tumble town of Flomaton on the Alabama Florida border, the son of Edward Stanley Robbins and Julia Carolyn Castleberry Robbins.

In the 93 years since, he has become one of the state’s most successful inventors, manufacturers, and businessmen, and built National Floor Products into one of the largest employers in the Shoals area of North Alabama.

The story of E. Stanley Robbins is a true American success story. At age three he was stricken with polio that left his left leg paralyzed. But thanks to the efforts of his mother and six months of crude but effective electric shock treatment, he managed to overcome the illness and begin to walk. He attended school in Castleberry and Evergreen, AL before moving to Mobile, where he graduated from high school. While living in Evergreen, he lost his father in a sawmill accident, which left his mother to raise Robbins and his three siblings, a tough job for a widow in those days.

When Robbins was 10, his family moved back to Castleberry, where his mother began operating a boarding house, and he and a brother went to work summers in a nearby woodworking veneer plant. The boys made seven cents an hour and worked six days a week, 12 hours a day. The family eventually relocated to Mobile, where Robbins painted houses and worked in a grocery store, eventually earning enough money to buy a Model-T Ford, which he planned to drive to Dayton, Ohio, where he had a job waiting.

He and a friend left Mobile in June 1925, camping along the way, and arrived in Dayton a week later. His first job in Ohio was painting a house, but he soon went to work in a plant that manufactured materials used for repairing tires. Robbins put his ingenuity to work and found a number of ways to modernize the plant. He was rewarded in short order by being put in charge of the plant.

Meanwhile, he had started a small tire and inner tube business in St. Louis, which he visited on a regular basis. During his visits to St. Louis, he made friends with a fellow Alabamian, who told him about a bankrupt rubber manufacturing plant in the middle of a cotton field in Tuscumbia, Alabama. That piqued his interest and he went to bid on the plant. He persuaded the bankruptcy judge to let him buy the plant for a penny on the dollar. So in 1930, he returned to Alabama, settling this time in the northern part of the state. He bought the facility and using the knowledge obtained in Dayton, built an inner tube and tire repair facility that eventually employed more than 1,200 people. The plant was destroyed by fire in 1939, but Robbins had it rebuilt in time to supply tubes and retread rubber to the military during World War II.

The new plant, finished in 1940, was at the time the most modern facility of its kind in the world. During the war, the plant was converted from producing natural crude rubber to producing synthetic rubber and became the leading producer of synthetic rubber during the war. Robbins is responsible for the research and development of synthetic rubber that is still used today to make inner tubes.

After the war, Robbins turned his attention to another product, vinyl. He built one of the world’s most modern vinyl plants, Robbins Flooring, a new company. He also designed the equipment that produced the first solid vinyl flooring. He is acknowledged as a pioneer in the industry. He was instrumental in developing high-quality vinyl, solid vinyl flooring, and was the first manufacturer to produce a pure vinyl flooring.

During World War II, Robbins sold Robbins Tire and Rubber plant but remained with the company to run the operation. He left in 1956, and, in 1957, turned all of his efforts toward bringing National Floor Products online. He converted some cattle barns located on Shoal Creek into a 35-employee plant. He later moved the company to the Florence/Lauderdale Industrial Park, where his company was the first to buy property and break ground. There he developed and designed the equipment for one of the most modern resilient flooring plants in the world, which at one time employed more than 500 people. In 1994, NAFCO was sold to the Canadian firm, Domco Industries, and today is a subsidiary of Domco Tarkett, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of resilient flooring.

In 1989, at age 81, Robbins founded a new company, Robbins Industries, located in the Florence/Lauderdale Industrial Park. The company has numerous patents for kitchenware designs and includes the subsidiary, KitchenArt, which designs and markets innovative kitchenware.

As might be expected for an inventor and manufacturer of Robbins’ stature, he holds a number of patents in design and manufacturing. He has designed and developed equipment used to manufacture both rubber and vinyl. He has a patent on precision sizing the tile, processing patents on wall base and he invented the first vacuum-back tile that needs no adhesive for installation.

For the last 72 years, Edward Stanley Robbins has given generously of his time and money for the betterment of the Shoals area. In1974, he was recognized for his efforts by being named Muscle Shoals Citizen of the Year, the area’s highest recognition.

He is a former director and member of the Florence Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Alabama Chamber of Commerce, and the United States Chamber of Commerce. He is one of the original members of the Florence /Lauderdale Industrial Development Committee and has served on the board of directors of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Association. He also was an active supporter of the Associated Industries of Alabama.

Robbins has devoted countless hours to many community projects. He has served on the Salvation Army Board and is a strong and active supporter of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a past member of the Rotary Club of Florence and the Kiwanis Club of Tuscumbia.

He helped organize and served on the board of directors of Sheffield Federal Savings and Loan Association. He also served on the board of State National Bank (now Compass Bank) and on the board of First Federal Savings and Loan Association in Florence. He also served as a member and chairman of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Board, Birmingham Branch.

Robbins has also been a strong supporter of young people and education. He supported the Junior Achievement Program and served on the board of the Quad-Cities Junior Achievement and has been a board member of the Riverhill School. He is the primary benefactor of the YMCA of the Shoals, on whose board he served. The Florence branch of the YMCA is named the E. Stanley Robbins Branch.

He has been a lifelong boating enthusiast and is a founder and former board member of the Turtle Point Yacht and Country Club, and a member of the Guntersville Yacht Club.

He also was one of the moving forces behind the renovation of Tuscumbia’s Spring Park, which included the installation of a waterfall and a fountain.

As might be expected of an inventor, manufacturer, and sailor, Robbins has constructed a unique home on an island at the mouth of Shoal Creek, where he lives with his second wife, the former Martha Rose Wilson of Tuscumbia. The house is equipped with many of his innovations and engineering designs.

Robbins has six children: Edward Stanley, Harvey Frank, John Conrad, Rodney Wilson, Martha Ruth Pillow, and Katrina Robbins Nix.

Robert S. Weil

  • October 6th, 2021

Cotton is a small shrub that dates back nearly 7,000 years and was one of the earliest crops grown by European settlers, having been planted at the Jamestown Colony in 1607.

Weil Brothers-Cotton, the international cotton merchandising firm located in Montgomery, does not date back quite that far, but the company has been the king of the cotton industry for a long time. And Robert Schoenhof Weil, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, has been a member of the firm’s top echelon for much of that time.

Born November 29, 1919, to parents Rossie Schoenhof and Adolph I. Weil, Sr., in Montgomery, Weil was the youngest of his parent’s four children. Robert Weil has risen through the ranks of his family-owned cotton firm to become one of the industry’s leading spokesmen, and he also is a noted philanthropist recognized by leading service groups for his continuous work and service.

His graduation in 1936 from Culver Military Academy was the beginning of an impressive education dossier. He entered Dartmouth College, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in 1940. Upon his graduation from Dartmouth College, Weil applied and was accepted to Harvard Business School where he received his M.B.A. in 1942.

After receiving his M.B.A., Weil fulfilled a commitment to his country as a second lieu­tenant, serving four years in World War II. During his time in the Army, he attended Command and General Staff School in 1945.

Following his discharge from the Army in 1946 he returned to his hometown of Montgomery to join Weil Brothers, a leading international raw cotton merchandising firm, which had been founded by his grandfather in 1878.

Continuing the family tradition, Weil and his older brother, Adolph “Bucks” I. Weil, Jr., became directors and officers of the company. At the start of their career with the company, Robert and his brother served as their father’s and uncle’s assistants and deputies while becoming increasingly involved in top-level decisions. Following their father’s death in 1968, Bucks became chairman and Robert president of Weil Brothers – Cotton, Inc. With the cotton industry valued at $4.5 billion, the brothers formed a holding company in 1980, Weil Enterprises and Investments, Ltd.

During this time, the brothers assumed corresponding roles with Bucks serving as president and Robert becoming chairman of the holding company. In addition to expanding their grandfather’s business around the world, Bucks and Robert were partners in Weil Hermanos, Inc., the Weil Selling Agency, and controlled the Swiss-based Unicosa. Robert has also served the company as co-chairman of the Board and chairman of the Executive Committee.

Weil also has been active in the cotton industry in several capacities. His first role in the industry came as the president of the American Cotton Shippers Association from 1963-64. He then went on to serve as director from 1962- 65 and 1973-74. He was also on the Board of Managers for the New York Cotton Exchange, director of the Atlantic Cotton Association, and a National Cotton Council delegate in 1963. Weil was also director of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, the 1977-78 associate director for the Liverpool Cotton Association, 1978 delegate for the International Federation of Cotton and Allied Textile Industries. Weil continued his involvement with the cotton industry on a national level when he was named a 1963 delegate of the International Cotton Advisory Committee and the White House Conference on Export Trade Expansion.

Weil said the reason he is so involved in the cotton industry was that “you have to be active in everything and participate in what goes on in the business.”

Following his return to Montgomery in 1946, Weil became an active participant in civic and arts organizations. He became a member of the Jaycees and was named Montgomery Jaycees Outstanding Young Man of the Year in 1948. By the 1980s, Weil was more than just a participant in civic organizations; he was their initiator and chairman. Among the organizations, he has chaired is the Men of Montgomery industrial arm, and he organized and chaired the Montgomery Long Range Planning Council. In addition, he initiated a movement to include women and African Americans in the organization, which then became known as the Committee of 100. Weil was also a board member of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce.

As a lifelong resident of Montgomery, Weil has been committed to making his community better by chairing organizations that benefit multiple groups of people. Among the groups Weil has supported is One Montgomery, a voluntary biracial organization dedicated to improving race relations in the community. He also participated in Leadership Montgomery and subsequently became a trustee of Leadership Alabama, all of which are dedicated to developing a cohesive leadership fabric in the Alabama community at large. Weil was also state chairman of Radio Free Europe, a key U.S. effort to break the East European Communist bloc.

Weil’s interest in charitable causes began in Montgomery as early as 1950 when he served as vice president of the Community Chest. Since then, he has been a board member of the local American Cancer Society and the Salvation Army He has also been active with United Way in various capacities and has played a vital role in its annual solicitations. Weil also was an original member of the Montgomery Area Community Foundation Board and was the Montgomery chairman for the United Negro College Fund. He also served on the board of the Eye Foundation Hospital of Birmingham and chaired the advisory board of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery.

His background gave him an appreciation for quality education, and he has been actively involved in educational institutions for much of his life. He has served as co-founder, president, board member, and board member emeritus of the Montgomery Academy Through his chairmanship of the Montgomery Long Range Planning Committee, he organized Blue Ribbon Committee on Public Education. The committee completed a special study of the Montgomery Public School system, which made several far-reaching recommendations to the County Board of Education. His activates were acknowledged with his election to the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Weil has also been devoted to Dartmouth, serving on the College Alumni Council, as area enrollment director, and working on the Annual Fund. He has served as trustee and trustee emeritus for more than 25 years for Wheaton College, his wife’s alma mater. And he has received the President’s Medal for his 20 years of service to Huntington College in Montgomery.

Weil has long been a lover of the arts and classical music. His wife, Virginia Loeb Weil, majored in art in college and is the former pres­ident of the Montgomery Museum. Weil, along with his brother Bucks, has enjoyed collecting fine art for many years. More than just collecting art, however, Weil fulfilled his wife’s dream of relocating the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts to a new and larger location with advanced facilities. He also was a member of the committee that launched Art Inc., a traveling exhibition of American corporate arc coast-to-coast and through South America. He also served as the first chairman of the Montgomery Business Committee for the Arts and is currently on the Board of Overseers of the Hood Museum of Dartmouth College.

As a young boy, Weil loved to listen to classical music with his mother, and that love is reflected today in his dedication to the Board of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and his service to the Overseers of the Board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Weil has been active in the reform Jewish faith as a leader in congregational affairs at Temple Beth Or, where he served as a board member and president for two terms in the 1960s. He and his wife have three children, Virginia “Vicki” Weil, Rosalind W. Markstein, and Robert S. Weil II.

Robert Weil has had a long and successful career with Weil Brothers – Cotton Inc., but he also has left an indelible mark on his community and the arts.

X