Frank Edward Spain

• September 20th, 2021

“Of some men much is asked; to others much is given.” Of Frank Spain, much has been asked and much has been given, and to many, he has given much.

Frank Edward Spain was born October 11, 1891, in Memphis, Tennessee, to John Bett Kennedy Spain, a well-known Methodist minister, and Ida Lockard Spain, a former director of music at Troy Seminary.

By the time that Frank Spain was a teenager, he had decided he wanted to become a doctor. Thus, when he graduated from Barton Academy in Mobile, he enrolled in the Southern University at Greensboro, from which he earned an A.B. degree in pre-medical studies in 1910.

Shortly after young Frank graduated, his father died. In subsequent months he tried various types of employment.

Perhaps, he was thinking about his father’s earlier suggestion about a career in law-”No no higher tribute can be paid to any man than to seek his counsel. No higher service could a man render than to give it.” In 1912, he entered The University of Alabama School of Law. Even though the curriculum in those days was designed to cover a period of three years, Spain earned his law degree in only 18 months.

The year 1917 was momentous in the life of the young lawyer. He was appointed Birmingham’s Assistant City Attorney; he met and married Margaret Ketcham Cameron, a gracious and talented daughter of one of Birmingham’s oldest families; and he answered his country’s call to war and became an artillery officer.

After World War I, Spain found himself in Washington, D. C., with some questions as to where his career would lead.

But, at that point, he received a letter from the father of a young lawyer friend of his, Phares Coleman. The letter asked Spain to take the place in the partnership planned for his recently deceased son. Thus began the long connection with the law firm that became Spain, Gillon, Riley, Tate, and Etheredge.

As Spain immersed himself in the years of the Roaring Twenties, he made contact with two of his boyhood friends: Frank Samford and Bob Davison. With these gentlemen, he became active in the Liberty Life Assurance Society, a small fraternal society with assets of only about $600,000 and total insurance in force of barely three million. To permit the society to become an old-line legal reserve stock life insurance company, Frank Spain and others helped draft, and seek passage of necessary legislation. As a result, in 1929, the name of the society was changed to Liberty National Life Insurance Company. Spain became the general counsel and a member of the board of directors.

Courage, faith, and hard work for the company by Spain and others pa1d off. In 1943, Spain became the Vice President of the Company, a position he held until he became Director Emeritus in the 1970s.

Frank Spain was also involved in other enterprises. Until it was sold in the 1960s to a New York conglomerate, he served as an officer, director, and legal counsel for the Dinkier Hotel Company. In the early years of his career, he and Hudson Barker formed the Bankers’ Mortgage and Bond Company. They, in conjunction with Richard Massey, bought the corner of Third Avenue and Twenty-first Street in Birmingham and constructed what has come to be known as the Massey Building.

Spain was also an officer, director, and general counsel for Odum, Bowers, and White Department Stores, and, in the 1940s, became an officer and director of the Magic City Food Products, Inc., a small local manufacturer of snack items, which grew to be Golden Enterprises, a conglomerate and parent company of Golden Flake Snack Foods, Inc.

As a nationally known insurance attorney, Spain has served as the representative of numerous well-known insurance companies, and as a matter of fact, helped to reorganize at least one of these national insurance corporations.

While actively involved in these business ventures, Spain was contributing his services to his state, his nation, and his city. Because of his many years as a member of the board of directors and as appeals chairman for the Jefferson County Community Chest, he was appointed an honorary life member of that board. Spain further served by being Chairman of the Alabama War Chest in 1945; the Alabama Society of Crippled Children and Adults; the Birmingham Housing Authority; the Alabama Association of Housing Authorities; and the President of the Alabama Motorists Association.

He has also served as Chairman of the Insurance Section of the American Bar Association; Chairman of the Legal Section of the American Life Convention; member of the Advisory Committee of Criminal Law School; member of the Alabama Medical Center Foundation Board; Director of Ellen Douglas Home; member of the Advisory Council of Southern Research Institute.

Perhaps one of the proudest chapters in the life of Frank Spain is his association with Rotary International. He became a member in 1937, and by 1942 had been elected President of the Birmingham Club. So marked was his leadership that the District soon elected him Governor. Following that, he held numerous national offices, until, in the early 1950s, he crowned his Rotary career by becoming President of Rotary International. He was also part of the committee which built the International Headquarters Building, and he spent many years traveling in both Europe and the Orient representing the organization.

Frank Spain has also been an active member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Birmingham. Inside that church is a chapel which he donated. Runic lettering carved over the door states that it is a children’s chapel. Each of the letters and some of the candlesticks within that chapel was fashioned by Mr. Spain with loving care.

Over the years in business, Spain was a wise investor, and he and Margaret Spain generously shared their good fortune with philanthropic causes. At first, it was done quietly, unheralded- until former University of Alabama President Frank Rose urged the Spains to make public their generosity to encourage others to make similar contributions. They had the satisfaction of seeing President Rose’s prediction come true.

Frank Spain has not been alone in his adventurous journey through life. He was first accompanied by a lovely and talented lady, his wife Margaret, who gave him two children, Peggy and Frances. During the latter part of his life, he has been accompanied by Nettie Edwards Spain, his second wife, who shares with him many interests, including photography.

Needless to say, a man of Frank Spain’s standing accumulates legions of honors and awards. To name a few-he is a member of ODK, Phi Beta Kappa; he holds honorary degrees from The University of Alabama and Birmingham Southern; he is a member of the Alabama Academy of Art; he holds the Gorgas Award; he is a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor, and he has had numerous buildings named for him.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, Frank Spain’s life … is gentle and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, “This is a man.”

William James Rushton

• September 20th, 2021

The Rushton name is synonymous with Birmingham and the name William James Rushton is synonymous with Protective Life Company, which he guided and developed into a major financial institution.

William Rushton, one of the two living inductees into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame this year (1980), is the second Rushton to be inducted – his father, the late James Franklin Rushton, was inducted in 1975.

William “Bill” Rushton was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 10, 1900. The son of James Franklin Rushton and Willis Roberts Rushton, he was one of eight children. His father, a pioneer in the ice industry, was President of the Birmingham Ice and Cold Storage Company and the owner of other ice plants in Alabama and neighboring states.

Bill Rushton grew up in Birmingham and attended McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he graduated in 1917. Upon graduation, he enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army and served in the infantry during World War I. Shortly after the Armistice in November 1918, Rushton was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. He soon continued his education, enrolling at Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, where he made his reputation as a scholar and an outstanding debater. He graduated in 1921 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Upon graduation, Rushton returned to Birmingham where he joined the Birmingham Ice and Cold Storage Company as assistant manager, a position he held for five years. In 1927 he was promoted to Vice President, and in 1932 he was named President. By 1937 Rushton had also served as president of the three national trade associations of his company’s business the ice, cold storage, and warehouse business.

In 1927 Rushton began a long association with the Protective Life Insurance Company as a member of its Board of Directors. Protective Life had been organized in 1907 by former Governor William D. Jelks, who guided the company through its first two decades. During these first decades, Jelks gave Protective Life a sense of quality. During Rushton’s tenure, growth would be the hallmark of administration.

One of the first important changes made during his presidency was the addition of the “group creditor” line of insurance in 1939. Group creditor insurance is issued to cover small loans made by banks and other financial institutions to their customers. Later, the Company entered the pension trust and group annuity field. Under Rushton’s leadership, Protective Life became a major factor in Group Life and Group Health fields.

When Rushton became President of Protective Life and Chief Executive Officer in 1937, the United States faced financial difficulties with the Stock Market decline and its slow recovery. Soon the country faced mobilization and World War II. Protective Life weathered these financial difficulties successfully, but World War II interrupted Bill Rushton’s career with his company.

In 1926 Rushton was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army reserves. In September 1940, Rushton, who now held the rank of major, was called to serve on the staff of Major General Lewis B. Hershey to administer the draft. In March 1942, Rushton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and as­signed to the Birmingham Ordnance Office where he held several different positions. In the following year, he was promoted to the deputy district chief in charge of ordnance procurement in five southern states. In January 1944, Rushton was promoted to Colonel, a title by which he is still affectionately and respectfully known. In September 1944, at his own request, he returned to inactive status but later held the post of Civilian District Chief of Ordnance. Because of his service to the Army, he received numer­ous citations, including the Legion of Merit.

On his return to civilian life in 1944 Rushton once more took the helm of Protective Life and during the next two decades continued the pattern of success he had shown earlier. In 1947, when Protective Life celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, it had reached a significant stage in its history. Of the nearly twelve hundred insurance companies in the nation with insurance in force, Protective Life ranked sixty-fifth. Of the total of more than four hundred companies with group life in force, it ranked twenty-sixth. Much of this growth is attributable to the leadership of Rushton.

By the early sixties, Rushton was recognized as a national leader in the field of insurance. As a result of the respect of his fellow insurance executives, the Colonel was named director to a number of insurance associations including the Life Insurance Association of America, the Health Insurance Association of America, and the Institute of Life Insurance.

In 1967, after three decades as President of Protective Life, Rushton stepped down as President but was named Chairman of the Board, retaining the title of Chief Executive Officer. In 1969 he retired from Protective Life. In that year Protective Life had more than $2 billion of life insurance in force and more than $170 million in assets, a testimony to Colonel Rushton’s leadership.

Rushton’s business acumen resulted in other corporations seeking him as a director. In 1927 he was named a director of the First National Bank of Birmingham, the youngest director in the history of the bank. In addition, he has served on the board of directors of the Alabama Bancorporation; Alabama Power Company; Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad; Illinois Central Gulf Railroad; and the Moore-Handley Hardware Company.

Throughout his long career, Rushton was supported by his loving and devoted wife Elizabeth Jane Perry, whom he married on November 24, 1926. The Rushton’s became the parents of two children, James Rushton and William James Rushton, III.

Colonel Rushton has had a lifelong commitment to worthwhile civic, cultural, charitable, and religious causes. A strong believer in youth, Rushton has been a supporter of the Boy Scouts. Not only did he serve as Scoutmaster but also as a director and president of the Birmingham Boy Scout Council. In religious endeavors, he has worked with the First Presbyterian Church, of which he has been a lifelong member. He has served as a deacon, and as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, as well as a member of the Board of Annuities and Relief for the Presbyterian Church of the United States. In the health field, he has served as a trustee of the Children’s Hospital and the Southern Research Institute.

Much of Rushton’s civic work has been with the Birmingham Community Chest. In 1937 he became a director of the Community Chest, in 1945 was named to the Executive Committee, and in 1954 was elected President. A few years later he was designated as one of only nine “Honorary Life Members” in the history of Birmingham’s Community Chest. He has also served as a member of the National Citizens Committee of the United Community Chest Campaigns of America.

Because of his strong commitment to com­munity and service, the Colonel has received many awards and honors. Among those is induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor. Educational institutions have also honored him. In 1959 Rushton received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Southwestern University at Memphis and in 1980 an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. For his support of scouting, he received the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America. In 1976 Dixie Magazine named him “Man of the South” and on November 24, 1976, David Vann, the Mayor of Birmingham, proclaimed that day as “Colonel William J. Rushton Day.”

William James Rushton has had two separate careers – businessman and soldier – in both he has demonstrated leadership and excellence. No less than the late Thomas W. Martin said of Rushton, “There is nothing he touched he did not adorn.” Fortunately, Bill Rushton continues to touch and enrich the lives of many people.

George Gordon Crawford

• September 20th, 2021

In 1891, twenty-two-year-old George Gordon Crawford sat in a classroom at Karl Eberhard University in Germany.

His professors had told him that the South’s industry was in a stage comparable to the Middle Ages. Little did he know that he would take a personal hand in reshaping this image. Ironmaster, civic leader, and humanitarian, George Crawford would be the driving force to make the South a leader in the industry.

Born on August 24, 1869, on a plantation in Morgan County, Georgia, George Gordon Crawford was the son of George and Margarette Crawford. The elder Crawford, a Confederate veteran, was a surgeon and taught medicine in Atlanta.

Young George attended high school in Atlanta and upon graduation enrolled in the Georgia Military and Agricultural College in Milledgeville. He later attended the Georgia School of Technology where in 1890 he received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, a member of the first graduating class. The following year he enrolled in Karl Eberhard University in Tuebingen, Germany, where he studied chemistry.

Upon the completion of his studies in 1892, Crawford returned to the United States where Sloss Iron and Steel Company of Birmingham hired him as a draftsman. But within a few months, the Carnegie Steel Company offered him a position as a chemist with the Edgar Thomson Works and he accepted.

Crawford’s diligence made him a candidate for promotions. He was soon given responsibilities in the engineering department. Later, he was made assistant superintendent of the blast furnaces. In 1897 the National Tube Company hired him as superintendent of its blast furnaces and steelworks. But within two years Carnegie Steel had lured him back as superintendent of the Edgar Thomson blast furnaces.

In 1901, Judge Elbert H. Gary and a group of financiers purchased Carnegie Steel and formed United States Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation. As a result of the reorganization, Crawford was promoted to manager of the National Department of the National Tube Company, one of the largest plants of U.S. Steel. Crawford soon demonstrated his business acumen. Realizing that the four plants that comprised National Tube were outdated, he recommended modernization of the plants. During his administration he totally rebuilt National Tube’s plants for $13,000,000, making them efficient and the largest in the world.

Crawford had served his “apprenticeship” and was well-versed in all phases of iron and steel making. Industry sources acknowledged his ability as an engineer, a metallurgist, and a corporate executive. He was now ready for greater challenges and additional responsibilities. In 1907 U.S. Steel acquired the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (commonly called the Tennessee Company or TCI). The Tennessee Company was beset by a number of technical and labor problems. A number of previous TCI ironmasters had been unsuccessful in producing steel that could compete with Northern furnaces. Crawford was offered the position of TCI President, but he was reluctant to accept. Only at the insistence of Judge Gary, Chairman of the Board of U.S. Steel, and other corporate officers, did Crawford accept. It was a challenge and he met it head-on. Crawford’s plan to overcome TCI’s problems was two-fold. First, he would solve the technical problems facing the company by rehabilitating the existing plants and then planning for expansion. This way he hoped to improve efficiency and production. Second, Crawford planned to simultaneously solve labor problems. At one time the Tennessee Company had a labor turnover of 400 percent. By improving the medical, living, and social conditions of the workers, he could provide a steady supply of laborers. Both plans would be expensive, but he had the complete backing of Judge Gary and the U.S. Steel finance committee.

Immediately, Crawford launched his rebuilding and expansion program. Within the first three years of his Presidency, a new limestone quarry and two new coal mines were opened. Other rebuilding or expansion plans over the years involved blast furnaces, wire mills, coke plants, forging mills, the electric power plant, and the Fairfield Car Works (later the Pullman Car Manufacturing Company). Particularly significant was the construction of the Bayview Dam which provided over three billion gallons of water for TCI. Throughout Crawford’s presidency, a new construction or rebuilding job was started almost every year. During the two decades he headed TCI, more than 100 million dollars were expended on capital improvements.

In solving the firm’s labor problems, Crawford implemented a multifaceted plan. He remodeled substandard housing and built new homes in planned company towns. Included in these worker villages were churches, schools, playgrounds, and other recreation facilities. The schools were among the best in the South. Crawford hired experienced social workers to organize activities in the villages. Social workers taught courses in housekeeping and nutrition and organized cultural activities for workers and their families. To improve medical services, Crawford hired Dr. Lloyd Noland from the staff of William Crawford Gorgas of the Panama Canal. Noland first improved sanitation by draining swamps and closing polluted water sources. Noland also headed a hospital to provide medical services to the Tennessee Company’s workers and their families. As a result of these improvements, TCI workers had a higher standard of living than other workers in the Birmingham District. Crawford had succeeded. He had cut absenteeism in half and by 1930 the labor turnover rate had dropped to approximately 5 percent.

Between business activities, Crawford met Margaret Richardson of New Orleans. After a brief courtship, they were married in Crescent City on February 1, 1911. They later became the parents of one daughter, Margaret.

Crawford’s interest in Southern economic development extended beyond the industry. He recognized the interdependence of industry and agriculture, and as a corporate executive sought to develop agriculture as well as transportation facilities. As TCI President he established the Farm Products Division to provide agricultural advice and promote the sale of farm products. Under Crawford’s guidance, the Tennessee Company produced fertilizer from high phosphorous slag. He promoted the development of the Alabama State Fair and the Southern forestry industry. Crawford was a member of the Alabama State Harbor Commission and served as the first chairman of the Alabama State Docks Commission, allowing him to work for improved dock facilities at Mobile and Birmingham Port on the Black Warrior River.

Because of his distinguished service to industry and agriculture, George Crawford received a number of honors. In 1925 the Ensley Kiwanis Club presented him with a silver loving cup for his “services to people of the area.” That same year he was chosen as Alabama’s outstanding business leader by the Living Hall of Fame and dubbed “Alabama’s First Citizen.” Five years later, upon his retirement from TCI, he received a loving cup that was totally paid for by only small contributions from hundreds of Alabamians. In 1931, Georgia Tech, his alma mater, conferred upon him a Doctor of Science Degree.

In 1930, after twenty-three years as President of the Tennessee Company, Crawford resigned and accepted a position as President of Jones Laughlin Steel Corporation. He held this position until 1935 when he retired and returned to Birmingham. On March 20, 1936, Crawford died in the Tennessee Company Hospital, the health care facility he had built. His final resting place is in Alabama.

George Crawford had a profound impact on Alabama and the South. When he died in 1936, he was praised by a number of people, but perhaps the highest praise came from another iron master: “The Tennessee Company is a Monument to George Gordon Crawford … “

John Anthon Hand

• September 20th, 2021

John Anthon Hand is one of the first two living inductees into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.

His name is synonymous with the First National Bank of Birmingham, an institution he has faithfully served for four decades. Hand was born in Rome, Georgia, on November 18, 1901. The son of Thomas Oscar Hand and Bertha Maddox Hand, he was one of six children. His father was state manager for the State Mutual Life Insurance Company headquartered in Rome.

Hand attended public elementary and high schools in his native city. During the summers, when he was older, he began work in a bank in Macon, Georgia, filing checks. Upon graduation from high school, he was hired by the Fourth National Bank of Macon for a clerical position. The head teller at Fourth National was a close friend and when a position came open at the Farmer and Merchants Bank in Sylvester, Georgia, he urged young Hand to apply for it. Thus, Hand became the new assistant cashier at the Farmers and Merchants Bank.

After a year in this position, Hand was appointed Assistant National Bank Examiner by the Comptroller of the Currency and assigned to the Sixth Federal Reserve District. He was soon promoted to Senior Assistant National Bank Examiner.

Ellis D. Robb, his immediate supervisor, and Chief National Bank Examiner wrote:

Perhaps in the five years, I have been Chief National Bank Examiner in Atlanta of the Sixth District, there has been no more faithful, efficient assistant than has been John A. Hand.

It is my belief that Mr. Hand will make good at any bank work he may attempt in any bank anywhere.

John Hand was only twenty-six years old and was soon to embark on his long career in Birmingham.

In 1928 the Traders National Bank of Birmingham merged with the American Trust and Savings Bank to form the American-Traders National Bank with John C. Persons as President.

The Sixth Federal Reserve District sent examiners to conduct a routine audit and while the investigation was being held, Persons asked the chief examiner to recommend an auditor for the new bank. The examiner suggested John Hand. Hand accepted the position and moved to Birmingham. Before he could begin work as an auditor he received additional responsibilities. American-Traders National Bank was in the process of acquiring a number of private neighborhood banks in Birmingham and Hand was assigned to oversee the operations of these institutions. Some years later these banks became the first suburban branches of First National.

Following the Stock Market Crash of October 1929, financial institutions across the nation suffered from the ever-deepening depression. In order to protect their customers and assets, Persons suggested a merger of his bank with First National Bank of Birmingham, the city’s largest financial institution. Upon the merger on July 1, 1930, John Hand became

Comptroller at First National. Shortly afterward, he was loaned to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to examine Alabama banks applying for federal loans.

Meanwhile, other activities consumed Hand’s time. In 1931 he attended Harvard Business School and later the School of Banking at Rutgers University where he graduated in 1936.

The following year he was promoted to Vice President at First National.

In the early 1930s, Hand began the important job of raising a family. Shortly after his arrival in Birmingham, he met Eula Elizabeth Gibson, and on November 1, 1930, they were married. They later became the parents of a daughter, Barbara, and a son, John.

Hand has always been a strong believer in community involvement and has encouraged First National personnel to become involved in civic and charitable activities. He himself has set the example. During the 1940s he was an active member of the Jefferson Hospital Board. He has served as general chairman of the Community Chest fundraising campaign and for two years as President of the Jefferson County Community Chest. He also has been a president of the Birmingham Rotary Club and the Festival of Arts and Vice Chairman of the Salvation Army. Immediately after World War II, he served as treasurer for the “Crusade for Children” drive. As Director and member of the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Hand has sought to attract new industry and thereby diversify the economy.

Because of his strong commitment to his community, John Hand has received many awards and honors. Among those is induction into Alabama’s Academy of Honor. Educational institutions also have recognized his contributions. In 1961 he was recognized by The University of Alabama for his support of engineering education. Ten years later the University of Alabama in Birmingham awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree. He was praised as “a banker deeply committed to improving the economic welfare of the community and the well-being of its citizens.” In 1972 he was named to the Board of Visitors of The University’s College of Commerce and Business Administration. Samford University also awarded him a Doctor of Laws Degree.

While continuing his active civic and community work, he was steadily progressing at First National. In 1953 he became Executive Vice President and a Director. In 1956 he was named President and on May 1, 1958, he became Chief Executive Officer.

During Hand’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer, First National Bank underwent an unprecedented expansion, aided by the sound banking philosophy he espoused: First, last and always I think a bank should be conservatively operated. We’ve operated this bank that way for years and years. For a bank to survive, however, it must also be aggressive and its officers must stay in contact with customers. They must make calls. If they do not, customers will be lost.

Under Hand’s guidance, the deposits grew from $326 million in 1958 to more than $780 million in 1972. In 1958 the bank had 13 branches; fourteen years later it had 29. Hand’s leadership has resulted in other significant contributions. One of the most lasting was the completion in 1971 of a new bank building located at Fifth Avenue and Twentieth Street in Birmingham. This impressive structure was a joint venture between Southern National Gas Company and First National Bank. Another significant development was the formation of the Alabama Bancorporation. The planning for this bank holding company was done in the late 1960s under Hand’s guidance. When appropriate federal legislation was passed and applications were approved by the Federal Reserve Board, the First National Bank of Birmingham joined Alabama Bancorporation in February 1972.

Because of his sound leadership, Hand was named Chairman of the Board on January 1, 1968, and on August 1, 1969, he was named Chairman of the Executive Committee. Throughout this period he retained the position of Chief Executive Officer.

Hand’s business abilities resulted in other corporations seeking him as a director. In his long career, he has served as director of some of the following companies: Protective Life Insurance, Alabama Power, Moore-Handley Hardware, Alabama Gas, Engel Mortgage, and Steward Machine. He was also a director of the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

After forty-four years of banking service, John Hand retired on December 31, 1972, from the day-to-day operations of First National. He still retains several corporate directorships and remained a director with First National until February 1974. Despite the fact that he is retired, Hand visits the bank daily.

Hand’s s contribution to the banking industry, and First National, in particular, is concisely stated in his introduction to a Newcomen Society meeting: “The First National Bank’s success has been due to his personal resourcefulness, his acumen, his sound judgment, direction, and leadership.”

Paschal Green Shook

• September 20th, 2021

Paschal Green Shook was born into the iron business, and over his lifetime made great contributions to the life and progress of Alabama.

Shook began his career with the Southern Iron Company of Chattanooga, a firm organized by his father. Two years later, the Tennessee company moved its headquarters to Birmingham, and Shook came as a stenographer to the firm’s general manager. Shook’s first major assignment came in 1896 when TCI’s president asked him to investigate the prospect of making steel in Birmingham. Shook’s perceptive report recommended open-hearth furnaces for steel production. TCI organized the Alabama Steel and Shipbuilding Company to handle plant construction and ensuing steel production. As secretary and treasurer of the new subsidiary, Shook assisted his father in the building of the plant, and upon its completion, Shook became assistant general superintendent of the operating facility. Several years later the company was bought and Shook lost his position. Shook and John F. Fletcher decided to form their own business, Shook and Fletcher Supply. In 1903, Shook married, Caroline Belle Sharpe. When Shook’s brother entered the business, the company expanded into mining operations, and this expansion coincided with World War I and increased demand for iron products. Shook was also a major civic benefactor. He served on the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the Birmingham Community Chest, the Birmingham Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Jefferson County Tuberculosis Sanitarium. Both Birmingham Southern College and Howard College awarded him honorary degrees in 1946.

Robert Jemison Jr.

• September 17th, 2021

Robert Jemison, Jr. left the imprint of a major builder on Birmingham.

Jemison, the descendant of pioneer business entrepreneurs, was educated at The University of Alabama and the University of the South (Sewanee). Jemison began his business career in 1899 as a hardware store clerk, laying the foundation for his subsequent career in real estate. In 1901, he married Virginia Earle Walker. Jemison launched the Jemison Real Estate and Insurance Company in 1903. In less than a decade, his real estate developments had made a major mark on the city:  Ensley Highlands, Earle Place, Central Park, Mountain Terrace, and Bush Hills. In 1907, he served as president of the National Alumni Association for The University of Alabama. In 1910, he developed the Tutwiler Hotel. In 1916, he was elected the first chairman of the Birmingham chapter of the American Red Cross. The 1920s marked a time of civic involvement for Jemison. He began many years of service as a trustee for the University of the South and Alabama hospitals, as well as serving as president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. Jemison was responsible for the development of the Mountain Brook area, thought by many to be too far from the business district to be successful. His contribution to the area was commended with the City of Mountain Brook dedicating Jemison Park in his honor. In 1971, he was elected one of the ten greatest men of Birmingham in a centennial poll by the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

James Craig Smith

• September 17th, 2021

James Craig Smith brought glamour to the textile industry by becoming a prominent textile manufacturer, a fearless industry spokesman, an outstanding civic leader, and an unselfish educational benefactor.

Smith attended Gulf Coast Military Academy. In 1925, he graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His first job at Avondale Mills, which his grandfather was president of, was to weigh cotton. Soon after Smith joined Avondale, he married Mary Page Thompson. Smith’s ability, business acumen, and incisive mind led him to become president of Avondale Mills in 1951. As president, Smith was the corporation’s spokesman for modernization. He constantly urged the improvement of mills and argued for the purchase of new machines. Perhaps Smith’s most lasting contribution to Avondale was the Zero Defects Program, which urged employees to take pledges to do their jobs right the first time. Smith became a spokesman for the textile industry. He served as president of the Alabama Textile Manufacturers Association, president of the National Cotton Council, and president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute. Under Smith’s leadership, Avondale became the world’s largest producer of ticking and cotton-carded and combed knitting yarns. Smith was an outstanding civic leader, serving as a director and past president of the Alabama Chamber of Commerce; a trustee and past chairman of the Eye Foundation; a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of Commerce and Business Administration; and a director and past president of the Alabama Safety Council.

Crawford Toy Johnson

• September 17th, 2021

Crawford Toy Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company and contributed to the growth of Birmingham as a businessman, civic leader, and humanitarian.

Johnson attended Ole Miss and earned a Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1897, he married Caroline Acree. Through his friendship with a former classmate at Ole Miss, Johnson learned about the possibility of acquiring The Birmingham Coca-Cola franchise. Asa Candler of Atlanta, owner of The Coca-Cola Company, agreed to the deal, and Johnson jumped at the chance to acquire the Birmingham franchise. In 1902, Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company with only one employee. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company expanded production. The company evolved from bottling 30 cases per hour to more than 300 by the 1920s. One of Johnson’s innovations, a new red metal vending machine that replaced the old barrel and tub coolers, kept his product in the public’s eye and contributed to the company’s survival of the Great Depression. Johnson emerged as one of the nation’s most respected soft drink bottlers. As a leader in organizing the Coca-Cola Bottler’s Association, he became its first president. As a civic leader, Johnson served as president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce; president of the Jefferson County Community Chest; and president of the Better Business Bureau. Johnson was also instrumental in founding Children’s Hospital. Johnson was an educational benefactor serving on the state board of education and supporting numerous colleges and universities throughout the state.

John Cecil Persons

• September 16th, 2021

A Birmingham News editorial stated, “Rare indeed is the man who serves so outstandingly in so many ways. John C. Persons was such a man.”

Persons enrolled in The University of Alabama Law School, and after graduation worked for Jones and Penick law firm. After a lengthy courtship, Persons married Elonia Hutchinson and moved to Columbus, Miss. Hoping to continue his law career, Persons moved back to Tuscaloosa in 1915 to establish a law practice. Instead, he bought an interest in a lumber company and soon controlled three others. Persons rebuilt his financial base after World War I by incorporating two new lumber companies. After a series of mergers, Persons served as president of American Traders National Bank. Under Persons’ leadership, the bank survived the Great Depression by merging with First National Bank. When Persons returned after World War II, he was soon promoted to chief executive officer and guided the bank for another decade of growth. Persons served as a Captain in the Army during World War I, earning the Distinguished Service Cross, and as a Major General in World War II, earning the Distinguished Service Medal for his service in the South Pacific. Persons served his community and its youth through affiliations with the Birmingham Board of Education, Junior Achievement, Boys’ Club, American Legion, and Red Cross. Persons served in a professional capacity in the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and the Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington.

Mervyn Hayden Sterne

• September 9th, 2021

Mervyn Hayden Sterne made Birmingham his home in 1909, and for more than six decades he would be one of its most notable leaders.

In 1916, he formed M.H. Sterne and Company, a firm specializing in stocks and bonds. In 1917, Sterne suspended business and joined the Army, was commissioned a First Lieutenant, and served eleven months in France. After his discharge, he formed the investment banking firm of Ward, Sterne, and Company, which became one of the leading financial institutions in the state. Today, Sterne, Agee, and Leach, Inc., is a prominent investment banking business. Sterne and his partners were pioneers in financing schools and modern road paving programs. In 1922, Sterne married Dorah Heyman. Sterne’s dedicated spirit extended to his religious life as well. He was affiliated with Temple Emanu-El. In 1936, he was the first chairman of Birmingham’s United Jewish Fund. Sterne served in World War II, serving as a major with the Army Services Forces, General Staff Corps. Upon his discharge, he returned to Birmingham where he raised more than $400,000 in just two days for aid for Europe’s Jews. He also organized a fundraising drive for Birmingham Southern College and Howard College, which raised $1,500,000 in just seventeen days. In 1948, he was nominated for Birmingham Man of the Year. In 1968, the Alabama Securities Dealers Association recognized him as one of the south’s leading investment bankers.