James Franklin Rushton

• September 9th, 2021

The story of ice manufacturing in Alabama is the story of James Franklin Rushton and his father, William James Rushton.

In 1881, the elder Rushton purchased an ice machine which he set up in Birmingham. The city’s rapid growth in the late 1880s provided a ready market for Rushton ice, and the business prospered. The younger Rushton, known familiarly as Frank, began work in the family ice factory as an oiler in the engine room. Eventually, he worked in every department and became an expert in all facets of the business, and by the turn of the century, he was his father’s chief assistant. Eight ice plants were constructed in the Birmingham area. Through their retail sales outlet, the City Ice and Delivery Company, the Rushtons arranged efficient delivery of their ice to customers. Together father and son developed the business into one of the largest and most successful of its kind in the south. Frank served several years as a vice-president of the National Association of Ice Industries. After his father’s death, Rushton further expanded the family business by establishing the Franklin Coal Mining Company and the National Coal and Coke Company. Frank Rushton is also remembered for his public service. His most notable public work was his leadership of bond drives during World War I. His colleagues at his funeral observed of him, “no man of his generation was more closely identified with all that was best in Birmingham.”

Louis Pizitz

• September 9th, 2021

Louis Pizitz, a part of the great migration of Jewish immigrants to the United States in the late 1880s, longed to be free from the restrictive laws that had led to the poverty of the Jews of Eastern Europe.

Pizitz arrived in New York in 1889 and soon took out naturalization papers and married Minnie Smolian, a former resident of Poland. Pizitz began his career as a peddler, and his experience taught him lessons he never forgot: buy wisely, sell honestly, know your customers and treat them with dignity. The panic of 1893 and the lure of a developing metropolitan area drew him to Birmingham in 1897. With a few hundred dollars, he rented a small building on First Avenue North and opened his store with eight employees. Pizitz was successful in Birmingham. He often shared his good fortune with others. In 1915, thousands of coal miners and their families faced starvation in the midst of labor strife. Pizitz sent truckloads of food and clothing to the mining communities. During World War I, he headed numerous Liberty Bond drives. Pizitz weathered the Great Depression, and in 1937, his store had grown to 74 departments and 600 employees. Pizitz was a pillar in the Birmingham Jewish community and was a founder of the Temple Beth-El. In 1948, he won the Good Will Award of the National Conference of Christian and Jews. In Birmingham’s Centennial Year, Louis Pizitz was chosen one of ten leading businessmen in the city’s history.

Charles A. Collat, Sr.

• August 17th, 2021

With over $1 billion in annual sales and 1,500 associates distributed across 79 locations in 14 states, Mayer has grown to be one of the largest electrical product distributors in the nation.

Collat joined Mayer as an associate in 1953 in its corporate offices in Birmingham, Alabama, soon after serving his country in the U.S. Air Force in Japan during the Korean War. Mayer was – and remains today – a family-owned business: Patsy Weil, whom he married in 1953, was the daughter of the company’s founder.

Working his way up the ranks within the company, Collat became owner and president in 1979.

Realizing the need for education in the distribution industry, he and his wife established the Ben S. Weil Chair of Industrial Distribution at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. However, their commitment to UAB goes deeper than that: over the years, they have given well over $25 million to the school and are among its strongest supporters.

In recognition of their contributions, the business school at UAB is now known as the Collat School of Business. He is also a member of both its Leadership Cabinet and President’s Council. Collat has been recognized for his service to the institution with its President’s Award and was the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humanities.

Collat’s personal philosophy is “Do Good and Be Better” which is something he has strived to do all his life. To that end, he has served in a leadership capacity at community-oriented organizations such as the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind Foundation, the Boy Scouts of America and Rotary Club. He was also a past president of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham and created and chaired the Temple’s endowment fund for many years.
Collat was born in Savannah, Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia where he earned an accounting degree.

He was married to Patsy Weil Collat for 62 years. She passed in January 2015. They have four children: Nancy Goedecke, Caki Mendel, Susie Collat and Charles Collat, Jr. Collat has ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is currently married to Joanna Gotlieb Collat.