Location: Mobile AL

Robert Herndon Radcliff, Jr.

  • October 26th, 2021

As an astute business executive and an active leader in civic affairs, Robert Hern­don Radcliff, Jr., has been instrumental in the devel­opment of Mobile, Ala­bama, into a modem port city. In 1987, he retired as Chairman of the Board of Midstream Fuel Company -only one of the several marine businesses in which the Radcliffs have been leaders since 1917.

Robert Herndon Rad­cliff, Jr., the son of Robert Herndon and Lucy Shields Leatherbury Radcliff, was born on November 14, 1917 – the same year that his father formed Radcliff Gravel Company and began producing the raw materials (sand and gravel) from the Alabama River and operating a retail construction material business.

Young Robert attended the Mobile public schools and graduated from Murphy High School in 1936. After attending Virginia Military Institute for a year, he returned home to help his father in rebuilding the family business, which like so many others, had suffered bankruptcy in 1932.

Robert Radcliff, Jr., has since said that he thought his father “a terrible taskmaster at times, but I was soon to know that what he taught me was terribly important.”

In June 1940, Robert Radcliff, Jr., married Dorothy Eugenia Greer. (they subsequently had four children: Eugenia Greer, Lucy Leatherbury, Robert Herndon, and Barton Greer Radcliff.)

In 1941, Robert Radcliff, Sr. died, still owing the bank a great deal of money. Twenty-three-year-old Robert Jr. was faced with the dilemma of paying off the debt and keeping the company solvent.

At the advice of his uncle, Ernest Ladd, Sr., he sought a partner with financial strength. He found support from his uncle, Frank L. Leather­bury, who became a 51 % partner until such time as the company was in sound position and the bank loan satisfied. For Frank Leatherbury’s support and generosity, Robert Radcliff has said, “I shall ever be grateful.”

In 1946, Radcliff Gravel Company became one of four companies that merged to form Southern Industries. This first holding company or con­glomerate in Mobile was the ”brainchild” of Edward A. Roberts, former chair­man of Waterman Steam­ship Company. The in­dividual companies­Radcliff Gravel, McPhillips Mfg. (a seafood business), Biloxi Grit (pro­ducers of shell for the poultry business), and Ewin Engineering Co.-were allowed much leeway in their operations. Southern Industries became one of the largest Corporations in Mobile; it was sold to Dravo Corporation in 1977.

In 1947, Robert Radcliff, Jr., was made a direc­tor of Southern Industries. He became president in 1954 and president and CEO in 1964 after the founder Ed Roberts died.

In 1972, after the directors of Southern In­dustries turned down an offer to buy Bauer Dredging (a world-wide dredging company), Robert Radcliff received permission from the directors to personally buy that company. When he bought the dredging company, he resigned from Southern Industries. He and his son Hern­don (who was in the marine business) entered into the new venture with enthusiasm. But, after Herndon’s untimely death in 1973 in a polo game, Robert Radcliff lost interest in pursuing the business. He sold Bauer Dredging to Bean Company of New Orleans in 1974.

Robert Radcliff’s desire to return to business emerged once more with the organization of Radcliff Marine Services Company. The new company obtained a five-year contract to tow oil for the Marion Corporation of Theodore, AL. From this venture stemmed Tenn Tom Towing Co., Midstream Fuel Service, and Pepco, a land side wholesale and retail fuel supplier. Radcliff Marine Service also had contracts to tow crude oil along the Gulf Coast and completed a $6 million sub contract on I-10 across Mobile Bay.

Robert Radcliff, Jr., served as president and CEO of these companies (which consolidated as Midstream Fuel Company) until his retirement in 1984. He remained as chairman of the board and director until 1987.

In July 1987, he joined his son Greer in form­ing Radcliff Marine and Fuel Company. Although Robert Radcliff owns one-half of the company, he has left the successful operation to his son and is enjoying his retirement which pro­vides time for fishing, hunting, and playing tennis-pleasures he hadn’t had time to pursue very much before.

In addition to his part in development of the marine business, Robert Radcliff, Jr., has played a leading role in all areas of community activity.

In the past, he has served as a director of Southern Co., Atlanta, Georgia; Alabama Power Company, Birmingham; Merchants Na­tional Bank of Mobile; Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Blount Inc. of Montgomery; L&N Railroad, Louisville, Kentucky; CSX Railroad, Richmond, Virginia; Seaboard Coastline Railroad, Jacksonville, Florida; Colonial Sugar Co., Title Insurance Co., and Ryan Walsh Stevedoring Co. in Mobile; Grand Hotel Cor­poration in Point Clear, Alabama.

He is currently a director of the Bank of Mobile and Bedsole Medical Supply, as well as a director of M. W. Smith Lumber Co. and E. A. Roberts Estate.

He has been a member and director of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce; the Mobile Chamber of Commerce; the Warrior Tombigbee Development Association; the Coosa Alabama Improvement Association; and the American Manufacturers Association.

He has been a member of the Executive Com­mittee of the Boy Scouts of America; a member and vice president of the Rotary Club; a Fellow of Mobile College; and a director of UMS Preparatory School, the Mobile Arts and Sports Association, and the Senior Bowl. He was a Founding member of Mobile United and of America’s Junior Miss Pageant.

In 1967, after serving as Chairman of the United Fund, he became the 19th citizen to be honored by the Civitan Club as “Mobilian of the Year” -for his leadership in many facets of com­munity life. He was attending a national Associa­tion of Manufacturers Convention in New York when he received a telephone call about this honor. His responses reflect the tenor of this outstanding business executive and civic leader. “That’s just wonderful;” “I really appreciate this;” and “How did this come about?”

Robert Radcliff, Jr. states simply about his business career that “the Radcliffs have loved the marine business, the rivers, the barges, dredges, tows, and tugs for three generations.” The com­panies with which he ha? been associated over the years “have dredged sand and gravel from the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, shell from the Gulf Coast waters from Texas to Tallahassee, Florida.” They have “pushed coal, rock, and crude on the Tenn Tom River system from as far as Caving Rock, Illinois, to ports on the Gulf Coast.”

And he is pleased that his grandson, Robert Herndon Radcliff, IV, employed by Radcliff Marine and Fuel, Inc., is carrying to the fourth generation the Radcliff love of the exciting marine business.

Robert Radcliff, Jr. seems to take no credit for his contributions to his native city – but Mobile, and Alabama – will remember him.

H. Taylor Morrissette

  • October 25th, 2021

Taylor Morrissette always thought of himself as “just a sugar peddler.”

He was that and more, say family and friends, that and more. H. Taylor Morrissette was chairman and chief executive officer of Colonial Sugars, Incorporated, from 1980 until the company’s acquisition in 1986 by Savannah Foods and Industries, Incorporated. Born September 29, 1931, in Mobile, Alabama, to John Marshall Morrissette and Marlite Taylor Morrissette, when he died September 29, 1990, he was survived by his wife, Vaughan Inge Morrissette; a daughter; three sons; his mother, his brother; and grandchildren.

Taylor Morrissette attended grade school and Murphy High School in Mobile, graduating from Gulf Coast Military Academy in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1949. In 1953 he received his bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College, then served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army until October 1955.

“I remember Taylor growing up as a fun person to be with and as a fine high school athlete,” reminisces Edwin J. “Jerry” Curran, Jr., a Mobile lawyer and close Morrissette family friend. “While he was a college student at Spring Hill he worked with the City of Mobile Recreational Department as a coach with underprivileged children, and he loved that work.”

In later years Taylor Morrissette would tum his capabilities and resources to other civic efforts. He served as a trustee for his college alma mater and on the Board of Overseers for Sweet Briar College, the alma mater of his bride. He was a trustee for St. Paul’s Episcopal School and past president of the Mobile Touchdown Club and America’s Junior Miss, Incorporated, and a past chairman of the Rebel Chapter of the Young President’s Organization. He was also a director of the Alabama Sheriff’s Boys and Girls Ranches, a member of the Chief Executive’s Organization, and past international vice president of the Young President’s Association.

When Taylor Morrissette finished his military service in 1955, he went to work for Henderson Sugar Refinery, Incorporated, as a route salesman. In 1963 he was elected assistant vice president of the company, and in 1964 took the office of vice president in charge of sales. Three years later he became vice president of Southern Industries Corporation in Charge of Production and Sale of Sugar, serving only one year before being elected a director of Godchaux-Henderson Sugar Company, Incorporated. He became president of that company in 1969.

“Taylor referred to himself as a ‘sugar peddler,’ and there probably was never and may never be a better one,” says Jerry Curran. “It was not his personality, good looks, charisma, or intelligence, but his capacity for real friendship with people of all walks of life that, in my opinion, marked his success.

“The truth of the matter is that Taylor would have been successful at anything he undertook, but Taylor’s father, in his early years, had been connected with the sugar business, and I believe that it was somehow in Taylor’s blood.”

In 1973 Taylor Morrissette resigned his presidency of Godchaux-Henderson to accept the presidency of North American Sugar Industries, Incorporated, a division of Borden, Incorporated. In 1980 he acquired the assets of North American from Borden and went on to form a new corporation known as Colonial Sugars, Incorporated, leading it at one point to annual sales of more than $300 million.

“He was a giant in the sugar industry, highly respected by his peers,” remembers former U.S. Congressman Jack Edwards of Mobile. “He was also well-known in the banking field, having been chairman of the board of First National Bank of Mobile and chairman of First Bancgroup, Alabama, Incorporated.”

Other of Mr. Morrissette’s business affilia­tions included serving as vice chairman of the National Association of Food Research, as a director and treasurer of the U.S. Cane Sugar Refiners’ Association, as a member of the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, as chairman of Marshall Biscuit Company, and as a director for Bedsole Medical, Morrison’s, Savannah Foods and Industries, and Addsco. He was also a director for AmSouth Bank, N. A., and the AmSouth Bank Mobile City Board.

“When Taylor moved from Godchaux­Henderson to Borden’s North American division, Borden had no real connection with Mobile, Alabama,” says Jerry Curran. ‘The sugar refinery was in Louisiana and of course, Borden’s headquarters were elsewhere.

“After joining Borden, Taylor prevailed on them to move the executive, accounting and sales offices of North American Sugar to his hometown, which was a meaningful addition to Mobile’s business community.”

One of the Mobile newspapers recognized Mr. Morrissette in the unlikely venue of a political column, writing:

“Though he is one of Mobile’s most success­ful businessmen, he is ‘down-to-earth’ and refreshingly open to people and tolerant of divergent thought. At the same time, he is a man of principle. His decisions are based on what is morally right rather than monetarily expedient. If this writer were going to describe the traits which this city’s leadership most needed, Taylor would have every one of them. Would that we had more Taylor Morrissette’s.”

In 1981 Taylor Morrissette suffered a heart attack, which was soon followed by a rare digestive disorder that limited his activities and finally forced him to step down as president of Colonial Sugars in 1985, immediately prior to its sale to Savannah Foods.

“Taylor Morrissette died too young,” says Jack Edwards. “He had a marvelous career and so much yet to give when that illness finally claimed his life. But for those of us who knew him best, he was an enthusiastic civic leader, great husband, and father, and a person of tremendous courage who cared deeply for his fellow man.

“No matter how busy he was, no matter how serious his illness, he never lost his concern for others.”

An avid hunter and fisherman, Mr. Morrissette was a strong supporter of many conservation efforts. Son Harris remembers that as his father’s illness wore on, he would enjoy his outdoor pursuits through his family and that to this day his children share his old hunting camp.

“He was such a great father,” Harris says, the smile in his voice apparent. “I don’t think I really realized what a great daddy I had until I read some of the letters people wrote Mother after his death. He was a generous guy, a friend to everyone.

“He was a good boss, too – I had the opportunity to work with him for about six years. He was fair and a good leader. Everyone says he was a great salesman, but he was an even better manager.”

Jerry Curran says there are a group of Mobile friends who fished and hunted with Taylor Morrissette, who visited with him and shared some of his private moments, who that when they get together always seem to find a reason to remember and discuss their friend. He sums up their feelings.

‘Taylor was one of those unusual people who come along just once in a great while who is always with you and never forgotten.”

Taylor Morrissette died at his home, with his family and friends. He was only 59.

Ray E. Loper

  • October 22nd, 2021

Friends say Ray Loper likes to refer to himself as an “old lumberjack.”

And while perhaps that phrase aptly depicts the gentleman’s career roots, it belies his tremendous ensuing success in the fields of the lumber industry and in philanthropy.

Ray E. Loper was born May 20, 1904, in Meehan Junction, Mississippi – in Scott County, near the more familiar and bigger city of Kosciusko. His parents were Robert Emmett Loper and Nora Bell McEwen; at age twenty Ray went to work checking log tallies for his father, then a logging superintendent for the W.P. Brown & Son Lumber Company in Zama, Mississippi. An article he wrote for the company newspaper, “Cutting the Cost,” indicates that even as a young payroll clerk Ray understood what it would take to get ahead in business. “The men who are handling lumber could save quite a bit if they would stop and pick up a board instead of running over it or lay it to one side of the tram till the pick-up crew could get around and get it,” he wrote. “It doesn’t matter if it is nothing but a 1 x 4 x 4 feet No. 3 with bark on one side. Save it! We can get something out of it.”

By the time that Zama plant closed, in 1932, young Ray was plant manager. As one of his last responsibilities in that position, he very profitably liquidated the Zama inventory and equipment, prompting company CEO James Graham Brown to ask him to become plant manager at a sawmill the corporation had just purchased in Falliston, Alabama.

After a few years there, in 1935 Ray Loper moved to Fayette, Alabama, headquarters for Mr. Brown’s southern operations, and assumed the responsibility of supervising the operations of all wood products plan, owned by Brown Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. A letter he wrote to a friend many years later captured his mood at the time: “I felt this was a tremendous responsibility at my age,” wrote. “I talked to my father and brother, Leo Loper, and expressed them how much of a responsibility I felt this was and asked them to look after getting the timber and lumber to the plants with as few mistakes as possible and I would do my best to look after plant production … It is my opinion that my brother and my father did a better job looking after their responsibilities than I did.”

His actions and subsequent progress, however, told a much different story. For nineteen years Ray would make Fayette his home base, traveling to various operations during the week and spending his weekends in the office with the ace books. By then some of the operations sites, including ones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Fayette, bore his name. During this time he would purchase timber, mineral rights, and land until W.P. Brown & Son owned approximately 125,000 acres of timberland. In one of the areas where Ray Loper had made a substantial land purchase, Escambia County, Alabama, oil was discovered in 1951 – and the company profited with some twelve wells.

In 1954 Ray moved the base for southern operations to Bay Minette, Alabama where he had negotiated the purchase of a sawmill, pole peeling plant, and several large tracts of timber. Over the years he guided the Brown organization as it became a very important part of that small town and the area surrounding it, and in 1975 Ray Loper was honored as Man of the Year by the Bay Minette Chamber of Commerce.

In 1969, James Graham Brown passed away. His will left very specific instructions: The James Graham Brown Foundation would be incorporated as successor to all his holdings. And Ray E. Loper would be named president and chief executive officer of that $100 million charitable foundation. In addition to the prestigious Foundation positions, Ray was also named a trustee of that body, and selected to head the Brown operating companies, as well. It is worth noting that this concern at the time included the largest estate in Kentucky, lumber mills, three creosote traveling companies, the Mobile & Gulf Railroad (which served as a common courier), vast real estate holdings, oil wells, three hotels – one which was the famed Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky – and 26,000 shares in Churchill Downs.

Ray Bobo, former vice president, and general manager of the operating companies of the J. Graham Brown Foundation remembers Ray Loper in his then-new position. “Mr. Loper continued to work tirelessly and was a pivotal leader for the company, demonstrating his skills in marketing and the sale of lumber, pressure-treated utility poles, and other southern pine products to many states in the South, East, Midwest and the northern United States, as well as exporting timber products to many foreign countries,” Mr. Bobo said. “He has a mastermind, yet maintained a genuine compassion for his employees.”

He also truly cared for and about his neighbors, as is evidenced by a story Dr. Thomas J. Davidson III of Gulf Shores, Alabama, tells. The physician was a young neighbor of Ray’s in Bay Minette in the 1970s, and the lumber executive found out the man was about to enter medical school with no financial assistance, something that would be difficult for his family. Ray Loper ensured that the Brown Foundation provided Dr. Davidson with support from 1977-1981 while he studied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, asking in return only that the youth return to his Baldwin County home to set up shop.

“To me that says that Ray Loper, even with all of his business success, has never forgotten that the most important thing in life is how we touch those around us,” Dr. Davidson said. “He set quite an example for an impressionable young man.”

In his role as president and chief executive officer of the foundation, Ray Loper would also establish with others his well-deserved reputation as a wise and caring benefactor, along the way guiding the organization’s growth to some $200 million. Some of the organizations with which he has been personally associated over the years include the United Way, Special Olympics, the Jemison House Foundation and the Tuscaloosa Preservation Society, North Baldwin Hospital, and First United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa. In 1988 The University of Alabama received $1 million from the James Graham Brown Foundation to establish the Ray E. Loper Endowed Chair of Geology to honor Mr. Loper as a leader in the forest products industry.

Ray Loper is in his 90s now but keeps a home and office in Bay Minette, and a home in Tuscaloosa, where he is well known because of his business and civic activities through the years – particularly his avid support of scholarships at The University of Alabama through his support of the football team. Until 1996 he also had an office in Louisville, Kentucky, which required his attention for bimonthly administrative meetings and duties. He is married to Mary Frances Bird and has three children, son Graham Brown Loper, who is now vice president of the James Graham Brown Foundation, and daughters Cynthia L. Kelly and Connie M. Chambers.

“He is a giant,” said Ray Bobo of his long­time friend and associate, “not only in his working career, but in his care for others and his genuine interest in the well-being of those he lived with, worked with, and enjoyed life with.”

Arthur R. Outlaw

  • October 18th, 2021

Arthur Outlaw is a man whose roots run deep in lower Alabama: the first elected mayor of Mobile in the latter half of the 20th century, the impact he made on that city’s political and business communities have forever made his name synonymous with success in Alabama’s port city.

Born September 8, 1926, to parents Mayme Lily Ricks and George Cabell Outlaw, Sr., Arthur Robert Outlaw lived on a farm outside Mobile until his family’s move into the city when he was 14. Arthur’s father Cabell was one of the found­ing fathers of Morrison’s Cafeteria in 1920 and an exemplary role model for his son to follow. In his early years, Arthur received a Catholic education through his second year of high school at the McGill Institute before transferring to Riverside Military Academy in Georgia. The man who would later give hope to Mobilians and rebuild their shaken trust in local government enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Cadet Program after his 1945 graduation and served his country for two years during World War II.

Arthur left the military in 1947 to attend The University of Alabama, where he studied for one year before completing a business degree at Spring Hill College in Mobile. His friends are quick to point out that the degree should have been in golf, for although it was not Arthur’s formal course of study, he excelled in it to such a degree that his alma mater’s golf team had an undefeated season his senior year. And while he is proud of that college accomplishment, Arthur himself is quick to point out that it was not his greatest one while at “The Hill”: that, he says, was marrying Dorothy (Dot) Smith on November 23, 1949. The couple would go on to have three children – son A. Robert Outlaw, Jr. and daughters Karen Outlaw and Mary Gay Outlaw.

While still a college student, the already ambitious Arthur took a position with the Mobile accounting firm of Holiman, Childree, and Ramsay, which held the Morrison’s account. He quickly advanced, and after graduation was employed full-time. It wasn’t long before this aggressive young businessman joined the Morrison organization itself, as a full-time assistant auditor in 1951. His initial work centered on modernizing the company’s accounting system, and later he enlisted IBM to help structure payrolls and handle food inventory and billing for warehouses. This technologically advanced arrangement occurred long before the computer age, marking Arthur as an executive with a great deal of foresight.

As he made his way up Morrison’s career ladder, Arthur found himself increasingly interested in politics. In 1964, while serving as assistant secretary and treasurer for Morrison’s, Arthur was also an adviser to Republican Jim Martin in Martin’s bid to unseat long-time U.S. Senate Democrat Lister Hill. Although Arthur’s man lost the race by a narrow margin, the race made a lasting and dramatic impact on the development of an active Republican Party in Alabama.

That same year, Arthur endured another loss – one of a more personal and tragic nature – when his beloved father passed away. Despite all this, Arthur refused to accept defeat, coming back in 1964 to help prominent Republican Jack Edwards in his successful bid that year for Congress. Then in 1965, taking a leave of absence from Morrison’s to run his own campaign, Arthur defeated eight opponents and took office as public safety commissioner of Mobile. For four years Arthur worked diligently with his fellow commissioners to increase the city’s revenues by some 60 percent, revising the gas tax and redistributing funds based on a per-capita system. But after just one term, at the urging of his brother Arthur returned to Morrison’s in 1969. And as if he had never left, within four years Arthur was named secretary and treasurer of the company. The next decade marked a period of exceptional growth for Morrison’s, which grew to encompass more than 100 cafeterias; a food service division with contracts with health care industries and hospitals, schools, and even movie sets; Admiral Benbow Inns; Morrison Imperial House Restaurants; and food service equip­ment companies. With its warehouses, coffee plant, Morrison Assurance Company, and plants for the manufacture of stainless steel, furniture, and china, Morrison’s became the most vertically integrated company in its industry.

In a display of remarkable business acumen, in 1982 Arthur supported Morrison’s acquisition of fledgling restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday, which at that time consisted of 12 units. Arthur’s vision of expanding the business his father founded quickly became a reality, and today there are more than 350 Ruby Tuesday locations. In 1984, Arthur was appointed vice-chairman of the board of Morrison’s, and while this was a major step in his business career, the Mobilian’s strong devotion to his city would again lead him into local politics. He easily found success when he ran for the post of city finance commissioner, serving out the term of the incumbent who had been ousted from office – and jailed – for fraud and extortion. Arthur was quoted at the time as saying, “None of us are very proud of the events that have taken place in the last few months, and we are certainly concerned about the image it has projected on our fine city I can­not sit on the sidelines.”

During his seven-month term, Arthur worked with the state legislature to change Mobile’s form of government to a mayor/council system instead of one based on three commissioners. Following the city residents’ vote to make this change, Arthur ran for mayor in 1985 and won, becoming the first elected mayor of Mobile since 1911. A local who understood the needs of his community and envisioned reviving the declining city, Arthur’s eight-year strategic plan for Mobile included the downtown redevelopment of a waterfront convention center, constructing a naval home port, solving the stormwater drainage problem, and developing a “Keep Mobile Beautiful” campaign. After breathing life back into his hometown during his one term as mayor, Arthur returned in 1989 to the family business, now Morrison Restaurant, Inc., as vice-chairman of the board, which is where he remains today. Seven years after his departure from politics, his company was spun off into three independent entities: Morrison Fresh Cooking, Inc.; Morrison Health Care, Inc.; and Ruby Tuesday, Inc. Arthur also currently serves as vice-chairman of the Ruby Tuesday Board of Directors.

Arthur’s successes also continued on the personal front. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Mobile in May 1994 and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in 1995, two additions to a list including well more than 15 civic and service appointments and accomplishments.

His friends say, Arthur Outlaw, with all of his personal and professional successes, hasn’t changed much over the years. Throughout his triumphs as both businessman and politician, he has remained loyal to his principles and fought for his beliefs. “I believe I’ve spent the majority of my career working on problems I see as solvable,” Arthur once said. “If a problem is solvable, a little action will usually uncover the necessary solution.”

Arthur Outlaw’s life has been one of just such action, and he will be remembered for the problems he solved.

Benjamin C. “Ben” Stimpson

  • October 5th, 2021

Logging and sawmilling have always been hard and dangerous work, and the lumber business has its share of legends. In the Southern lumber business, few legends are bigger than Ben C. Stimpson, who has spent his life cutting timber, processing lumber, and promoting wildlife conservation.

Ben Stimpson was born in Mobile, the son of Frederick Taylor Stimpson and Mary Edna White-Spunner. He graduated from Murphy High School and attended The University of Alabama where he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

He began his lumbering career in 1940 when as a teenager he worked for his father’s lumber company in South Alabama in a summer heat so fierce that at the end of the day even his high-top shoes were soaked with sweat, a sight that Stimpson says made his father howl with laughter. But the hard work and sweat paid off.

In 1941, his father was operating Stimrad Lumber as well as a thriving piling business that furnished pilings for the foundations for the bulkheads and docks along the Gulf coast. That same year, his father, a savvy businessman, decided to form yet another new company called Southern Logging Company, with Ben and his two brothers as the owners.

But World War II put the logging business on hold and in 1945 Stimpson completed cadet training and received his wings as an Air Corps pilot at the University of Tennessee. But before he could be deployed, President Truman ordered the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and that brought the war to a close. Stimpson returned to South Alabama and the three brothers returned to the lumber and logging business.

During that same period, Ben May, a close friend and business associate of Stimpson’s father, had purchased a lumber concentration yard in Mobile to process timbers and lumber for use in World War II. Timber was cut from the forests around Mobile and sawn into green lumber by “peckerwood” sawmills and then trucked to Mobile for further processing. The 1umber concentration yard was known as Gulf Lumber Company.

After suffering operating losses for several years, May sought new management and contacted the Stimpson brothers to gauge their interest. So after working in numerous capacities under the tutelage of their father, Stimpson and his older brother Billy and younger brother Gordon assumed management of the company and agreed to split the profits 50-50 with Ben May.

With clearly defined responsibilities each brother performed his duties and meshed into a management team that was the envy of the industry. They were held in high regard by their peers for their work ethic and the ability to get along, but more so looked upon with awe as three brothers that were best friends. Under their management, Gulf Lumber Company evolved into one of the most innovative lumber companies in the nation respected for its high standards for quality. Having the responsibility for sales and marketing, Ben Stimpson steered Gulf into niche markets of treated lumber and machine stress-rated lumber while serving first in the capacity of vice president and later as president.

Today, independent logging crews haul more than 400 loads of logs per week to the Mobile plant, most of them from timberland Gulf manages in southwest Alabama, northeast Florida, and southeast Mississippi. The logs undergo a complicated process of weighing, debarking, sawing, trimming, sorting, drying, planing, and grading before the finished product is shipped. State-of-the-art computers are used in each area of the processing to assure that the quality standards are met.

Gulf Lumber Company, one of the largest sawmills in Alabama, annually produces 105 million board feet of yellow pine products shipping primarily into Midwestern and Northeastern markets. About 80 percent of the product is sold to treating plants and truss manufacturers, with about 10 percent going to retail lumberyards, and 10 percent being exported into countries in the Caribbean. Additionally, the company produces 40 million board feet of treated lumber in its own treating facility and recently began an import lumber division to bring in pine lumber from South America.

In 1973, following the death of Mr. May, the three brothers acquired the ownership of Gulf Lumber Company from the May estate. In 1992, Ben Stimpson and his brothers turned the reins of leadership over to the third generation of the sawmilling Stimpsons.

As might be expected of a man who made his living from timber and timberlands, Ben Stimpson has been active in organizations dedicated to protecting timber resources. He has served as a director of the Alabama Forest Products Association as well as a director of the Southern Forest Products Association. He also served on the board of the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau for nine years, three of which were as chairman.

In addition to his interest in preserving the wise use of timber resources, Stimpson has been passionate about wildlife management and conservation. Having been taught by one of the deans of wildlife conservation. Ben Stimpson knows well that wildlife management is as much about managing people as it is about managing wildlife.

Highly respected for his knowledge in this area, he served as president and a member of the board of directors of the Alabama Wildlife Federation and in 1964 received the Governor’s Conservation Award as well as the M.O. Beale Scroll of Merit for his contributions to wildlife conservation. Additionally, he served as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Board for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources from 1971 until 1985. Like his father before him and his two brothers, Ben Stimpson is an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman. Stimpson’s hunting passion is the wild turkey and few can match his bream fishing expertise.

Much of the Stimpsons’ personal life revolves around Choctaw Bluff, a private family enclave overlooking the Alabama River in Clarke County where Ben has been president of the Choctaw Bluff Hunting Club. The tradition began when Stimpson’s father began acquiring land in the 1920s. Ben and his brother have continued to add tracts over the year.

During the late 1940s, he was given the responsibility for renovating an old home, the Big House, on the property for the family’s use. In 1975 Ben built his personal home on the property which he named Stonewall after the nearby Civil War-era Fort Stonewall. On weekdays, Ben and Nedra, his wife of 47 years, find peace and solitude within the confines of Stonewall.

Weekends and holidays are different. On any given weekend one or all the couple’s five children, Ben C. Stimpson and John C. Stimpson, Nedra S. Crosby, Mary S. Turner, and Greer S. Stephens, could be present. In tow could be all or some of the 16 grandchildren.

Though devoted to his family and business, Ben Stimpson has always found time to give to the Mobile community. For 29 years he served on the Board of Trustees of the Mobile Infirmary while chairing numerous committees and helping direct the hospital in its growth from a 300-bed facility to 700 today. He was also instrumental in forming the infirmary’s holding company, Infirmary Health Systems.

In 1970 Stimpson was elected to the Board of Trustees at St. Paul’s Episcopal School. At the time it had grades kindergarten through grade five. It is no secret that Ben became passionate about St. Paul’s School. During his 22-year tenure on the board during which he served as chairman for one term St. Paul’s has developed into the largest Episcopal college preparatory school in the continental U.S.

Ben Stimpson has worked hard but has played hard and enjoyed life. He and his brothers, sons, and nephews have gambled on the Southern forest and invested in the future of the land they love. His hope is that he will be judged as having been a good steward of the resources and talents entrusted to him, and his dream is that his children and grandchildren will strive to be good stewards as well.

Mayer Mitchell

  • October 4th, 2021

Mobile businessman Mayer Mitchell is known to quote a favorite proverb of his Jewish faith: “When you give when you’re dead, it is lead; when you give when you are living, it is gold.”

For Mr. Mitchell, the saying is a way of life. His name is synonymous with success in business, a generous personal investment in community and faith that extends around the world.

Mayer Mitchell is an American success story. Born in New Orleans in 1933 and raised in Mobile, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in economics with honors at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance in 1953. He then served as an Army first lieutenant in Korea, earning a commendation ribbon with medal pendant for meritorious service.

Returning home with young wife Arlene, Mr. Mitchell recruited his brother Abraham to join him in founding a residential and commercial real estate development firm, The Mitchell Company, in 1958. The firm grew rapidly to one of the largest in the Southeast.

This success, according to Mr. Mitchell, hinged on trust, respect, and an understanding of the ever-changing harmony of residential and commercial real estate.

“We started the company from scratch,” Mr. Mitchell recalls. “We had a good management team, and we diversified by building shopping centers, single-family homes, and apartments.

“We knew that when single-family homes were down, apartments would be up. Add the commercial side, and the company would stand on a three-legged tripod. We were able to truly participate in the Golden Age of Real Estate.” Mr. Mitchell said the company’s management approach was critical to its success.

“We had three senior executives who had clear responsibilities,” he said. “My brother Abe oversaw construction, while our partner Bill Lube! handled the company’s administration. I focused on strategic planning, personnel, finance, and land acquisition.”

After serving as chairman and CEO of the company for nearly three decades, Mr. Mitchell sold his interest in 1986. His brother did likewise. The firm’s final tally under their oversight was prodigious: 25,000 single-family homes, 20,000 apartments, and 175 shopping centers throughout the Southeast.

The modem-day Mitchell Company that descended from a partnership of brothers remains the largest private firm in Mobile and among the top 40 in Alabama.

Since selling his first entrepreneurial creation at age 53, Mr. Mitchell has spent the second half of his business life managing his investments through his current company, MB! L.L.C.

Those who know Mr. Mitchell understand that his business success and philanthropic commitment draw on his intelligence, perseverance, and strong sense of purpose. To fully understand the Mayer Mitchell story, however, one must understand the full path of his life.

Just as his business was hitting full stride, the 36-year-old father of four was given dire news. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and told he had, at best, six months to live. The year was 1969, and young Mayer Mitchell was advised to get his affairs in order. Never one to give up, Mr. Mitchell began a series of trips to Rochester, N.Y., to seek experimental treatment at a cancer research center at the University of Rochester.

After two years of painful treatments, Mr. Mitchell made a rare and remarkable recovery. This personal victory not only shaped his life but shaped the future of the Mobile region as well. Mr. Mitchell gained an even keener sense of public purpose.

“I remember,” recounts wife Arlene, “when we got on the plane to go to New York for Mayer’s treatment, he told me, ‘If the Lord lets me live, I want to someday make sure there’s a cancer center in Mobile for those who are less fortunate.”‘

This brings us back to the “give while you live” proverb.

Mr. Mitchell has been a tireless proponent of education and health care, serving more than 31 years on the University of South Alabama Board of Trustees, including a term as chairman. He has served on the President’s Cabinet at The University of Alabama and has supported UA through his philanthropy and service.

To date, the Mitchell family – Mayer, Arlene, and Abe – has given more than $36.6 million to the University of South Alabama. This includes a recent gift of $22 million to support USA’s cancer research institute, which provides state-of-the-art care to people of the Gulf Coast region. USA’s trustees recently named the “Mitchell Cancer Institute” in the family’s honor. USA’s Mitchell College of Business and Mitchell Center sports arena also bear the family name as testaments to their previous generosity.

In fact, the Mitchell family holds the distinction as having given more to a single public university than any other family in the history of the state of Alabama.

True to his faith, Mr. Mitchell has become an international leader in the protection of Israel and has developed a personal relationship with every U.S. president and Israeli prime minister over the past quarter-century. He has served as president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and has endowed Ramah Darom, a camp for Jewish youth from across the Southeast. He serves on the Board of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

His philanthropic and leadership service has included Alabama Power Company, Wright School, Bishop State Community College, Leukemia Society of America, USA Foundation, AmSouth Bank, Altus Bank, Mobile Area United Way, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Congregation Ahavas Chesed, Mobile Jewish Welfare Fund, Mobile Federation of Jewish Charities, Mobile County Real Estate Association, Archives of American Art, Anti-Defamation League, and The Banc Corporation.

Mr. Mitchell was given the USA National Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2005. Honors also include Outstanding Young Men of America; Jewish Welfare Fund Man of the Year; Prichard Honorary Citizen of the Year; Mobile County Realtor of the Year; and high honors from the

Boy’s Club of Mobile, Bishop State Community College, University of Rochester, New Orleans Chapter of Hadassah, Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, Mobile Kiwanis Club, and the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.

He is a member of The Country Club of Mobile, Bienville Club, Red Elephant Club, and Mobile Quarterback Club. His special interests are art, politics, and sports.

Mayer and Arlene Mitchell, who was the first woman ever chosen for the coveted “Mobilian of the Year” honor, have four children and eight grandchildren. When asked his advice to young people regarding business and life, Mr. Mitchell – known better as “Bubba” by friends, presidents, and prime ministers- offers a simple message.

“It’s about ethics,” he said. “It is very difficult to rebuild character, so never let yours be compromised.”

David Richardson “D.R.” Dunlap

  • October 4th, 2021

In a memorial to its co-founder, president, CEO, and chairman for more than 50 years, the newsletter of Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company said:

“The high esteem in which David Dunlap was held by every worker at this company, by members of the marine industry throughout the nation, as well as by the entire local community, is evidenced in the numbers of people from all walks of life who paid this last tribute to this remarkable man. For those closest to him, the loss will be immeasurable. But the legacy of high ideals which he leaves will sustain us in our grief and challenge us to greater endeavor throughout the years to come.”

David R. Dunlap was born in Mobile on June 19, 1879, to David R. Dunlap and Virginia Wheeler Dunlap.  He was educated at University Military School where he was a commanding officer of the first graduating class. He received a bachelor’s degree with honors from The University of Alabama at age17 and completed his education in law.

In 1916, Mr. Dunlap, then president of Alabama Iron Works, joined his cousin, George Dunlap, who led Mobile Marine Ways, to consolidate holdings and buy Ollinger and Bruce Dry Dock.  Gulf City Boiler Works became a part of the shipyard operations which became Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO) in 1917.

Mr. Dunlap married his wife of 50 years, Tallulah Gordon Sage in 1918.  This was followed in the next three years by two children, Tallulah Sage Dunlap and David Richardson Dunlap Jr.  Five grandchildren followed.

World War I brought challenges for ADDSCO, which trained some 4000 workers and eventually built three minesweepers, two steamers, and two large sea-going barges for the U.S. government.

Following facilities and property expansion, in 1941, ADDSCO contracted to build and outfit 20 Liberty-type ships.  Eighteen months after the first keel was laid all 20 ships were ready for duty.  To do its part for World War II, ADDSCO maintained 36,000 employees at its peak, built 102 tankers and repaired or converted an additional 2800 vessels.

In years that followed, ADDSCO helped build Mobile’s Bankhead Tunnel, jumbo-sized tankers and pioneered other structural and equipment conversions.  Ultimately 700 new ships were constructed and 24,000 vessels were repaired or converted during Mr. Dunlap’s career at ADDSCO.

Mr. Dunlap was as much a part of ADDSCO as its foundations and crossbeams. His vision brought together the capital and workforce to form a successful all-around ship repair and construction facility in the Port of Mobile. An original capitalization of $600,000 created a billion dollars of income during his leadership.

Mr. Dunlap loved to fish and hunt and he faced tough assignments or near impossible undertakings with courage and determination.  His contributions to his city, state, and nation spanned two world wars, a depression, and changing times.

He was the original cashier and an original stockholder of Merchants National Bank (now Regions Financial Corporation) where he served as a director for many years.  Other directorships included Waterman Steamship Corporation, Mobile Towing and Wrecking Company, Alabama Power Company, Shipbuilders Council of America, and the Mobile and Alabama Chambers of Commerce.

Mr. Dunlap served on the Board of Governors of Spring Hill College from which he received an honorary degree.

Upon the loss of his son in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, Mr. Dunlap established an education trust to benefit Mobile and Baldwin County students.  The David R. Dunlap Jr. Memorial Trust has provided deferred payment, low-interest education loans to more than 1000 students.

The Mobile Press-Register editorialized about Mr. Dunlap at his death in November 1968:

“His name came to be known almost synonymously with ADDSCO because of his prime role in its success.  His sphere as a builder extended beyond ADDSCO and his other business interests….He made himself an outstandingly valuable citizen in helping to build Mobile into the famed industrial seaport it has become during his eminent career.  His long and useful citizenship is one of the good fortunes from which Mobile benefits and for which all can be thankful.”

E. Grace Pilot

  • September 28th, 2021

Given her compassion for others less fortunate, it should come as no surprise that E. Grace Pilot of Mobile has built Pilot Catastrophe Services into the largest catastrophe adjusting firm in the nation, assisting thousands of disaster victims each year with an innovative approach to putting communities and families back together after disasters strike. Mrs. Pilot and her late husband Walter formed Burch and Pilot and Pilot Adjustment Services in Mobile in 1964 as an independent adjusting firm. In 1983, the couple decided to go into business for themselves and founded Pilot & Associates, Inc. Today, Pilot Catastrophe Services, Inc. employs thousands of employees inside and outside of Alabama with the corporate office in Mobile offices throughout the country and has grown into the nation’s largest catastrophe adjusting firm.

She has been active with the company in various capacities since its inception in 1983 and still serves as secretary/treasurer and director.

Mrs. Pilot was born in Silas in Choctaw County, Alabama, and is the third eldest of ten children. She married her high school sweetheart and the couple moved to Mobile in 1954. She worked with the Haas Davis Packing Company and later joined the Mobile Coca-Cola company in the accounting department before going into the catastrophe adjusting business. Through determination and hard work, she and her children have continued the legacy of her husband.

She is an active and past member of many organizations including the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home, American Society of Women Accountants, and is an honoree of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award given to members who show exemplary leadership in the United Way and the community. In 2005, Mrs. Pilot was honored by Beta Sigma Phi as the First Lady of Mobile for her ideas and commitment to others through her daily acts of love, friendship, and generosity.

The E. Grace Pilot Private Foundation supports her efforts to create a positive change in the communities in which she lives and contribute to causes of eternal value. The Foundation provides financial support primarily in the areas of education, community needs, and Christian ministry. The Pilot House of Hope in Shelby County, Alabama, is named in honor of her generous support. The house serves the needs of homeless mothers and their children and offers a safe place in which to live as they work toward independence.

She has served as a member of the board of trustees of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes which has named Its training and conference center in Birmingham the Dr. E. Grace Pilot Conference Center in her honor.

She has served as special advisor to the president of Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and has been a generous benefactor to the University. In 1994, Howard Payne University honored her with the highest honor given by a university with an honorary Doctoral of Humanities degree. In 2010, “Grace Chapel” on the campus of Howard Payne University was named in her honor.

Mrs. Pilot is the proud mother of five children, sixteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. All of the children are active in the family business. Mrs. Pilot is a member of Luke 4:18 Fellowship Church.

Angus R. Cooper, II

  • September 28th, 2021

Angus R. Cooper, II, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cooper/T. Smith Corporation, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama.

Mr. Cooper was born March 28, 1942, in Mobile, Alabama, and attended University Military School graduating in 1960. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in 1964. In 1995, he received the Achievement in Transportation Award from the University Of Alabama Culverhouse College Of Commerce.

After graduation from college, he joined Cooper Stevedoring Corporation. Under his direction, Cooper Stevedoring has grown and operates in 37 ports on the East, Gulf, and West Coast of the United States, plus operations in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. It has also expanded into services of ship docking and undocking, mooring, warehousing, barging and barge towing business. One of Cooper’s latest acquisitions is Kimberly Clark’s marine and timberlands division now renamed Cooper Marine and Timberlands, Inc.

The story of the Cooper family businesses began in the late 1800s when Henry Harrison Cooper and his two brothers emigrated from Scotland eventually settling in Baldwin County, Alabama in an area appropriately named Rosinton. They were rosin farmers securing rosin for Naval stores from the plentiful Baldwin County pine trees. Henry Cooper’s son Angus, one of fourteen children, went to work on the Mobile waterfront and began the Cooper family stevedoring tradition, and in 1905 established what eventually became Cooper/T. Smith Corporation.

Angus Cooper’s son, Ervin, joined the family’s business. He married, had two sons (Angus II and David), and went on to personally direct the firm’s expansion to ports throughout the U.S. Both sons set out on a seemingly impossible mission: to grow the business worldwide and compete internationally with the biggest maritime firms in the world.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of IBERIABANK, the Coast Guard Foundation, and Crescent Towing & Salvage Co., Inc. He is Vice President of Crimson Tide Foundation, and is a member of the Chief Executives Organization, Inc. He is Chairman of the Senior Bowl and the Mobile Arts & Sports Association, and a member of the Mobile Carnival Association, Mobile Touchdown Club, Eastern Shore Art Association and the New Orleans Business Council, and the World Presidents’ Organization. He is the Honorary Chair for the Alabama Kidney Foundation. In 1998, he received the World Trade Club Award at the United Nations in New York. In 2004 he received the Bank One Junior Achievement Award and in 2005 he was chosen as a Role Model for the Young Leadership Council. He was named “Maritime Person of the Year 2005” by the Propeller Club of New Orleans. He also received the 14th International Maritime Hall of Fame Award in 2007. In 2009 he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Mr. Cooper is on the Board of Directors of the National WWII Museum, the Audubon Institute, and GulfQuest Maritime Museum.

He formerly served on the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System, the Board of Directors of Whitney National Bank of New Orleans, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, Director of Federal Reserve Bank, Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding, Inc., Boy Scouts of America, Children’s Hospital and various other civic and social organizations. Mr. Cooper was the former co-chairman of the United States Olympic Committee – Mobile.

Mr. Cooper is an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairhope. He has four children, Carol Elizabeth (Lisa), Angus, 111, Scott and Claire Ellen, and nine grandchildren.

David J. Cooper, Sr.

  • September 28th, 2021

David J. Cooper, Sr. served as President of Cooper/T. Smith Corporation, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama from 1983 to 2008. In 2008 he became Vice-Chair, the position he currently holds.

Mr. Cooper was born on August 21, 1945, in Mobile, Alabama. He graduated as a member of the Class of 1963 from University Military School, and the Class of 1967 from the University of Alabama in The School of Commerce and Business Administration with a B.S. in General Business.

After college, Mr. Cooper joined his family’s stevedoring company. The company operates in thirty-seven (37) ports on the East, West, and Gulf Coasts of the United States, plus operations in South America and Mexico. Cooper/T. Smith has also diversified its business interests, including thirty-one (31) subsidiaries and affiliated companies. The Company also owns Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mobile, Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Jackson, Mississippi, Felix’s Fish Camp, and The Bluegill Restaurant on the Mobile Bay Causeway.

He serves as a Director on the Corporate Boards of Alabama Power Company, Regions Financial Corporation, International Transportation Service (Kawasaki) in Long Beach, California, and CSC Assurance in Hamilton, Bermuda. He is a current Director of AAA (Alabama Automobile Association), Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, and is a former Director of SouthTrust Bank (now Wells Fargo); and a former Director of AmSouth Bank (now Regions Financial).

Mr. Cooper also served as Chairman of Infirmary Health System; Mobile Carnival Association; Mobile Industrial Development Board and Vice-Chair of Alabama State Port Authority. He is a former Director of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce, American Red Cross, University Military School, Old Dauphin Way School, Julius T. Wright School, and UMS-Wright Preparatory School where he served as Chairman of the Board. He is past President of the Country Club of Mobile, the Touchdown Club, and other civic and social organizations. ”

He is a former member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the World Presidents’ Organization. In 1995 he received the Achievement in Transportation Award from the University Of Alabama Culverhouse College Of Commerce, the 1996 Outstanding Alumni Award from the UMS-Wright Preparatory School, and was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2011.

Mr. Cooper is an active member of Christ Episcopal Cathedral and is married to the former Joanne Knowles. They have three grown children: Ashleigh, Margaret, and David, Jr., and six grandchildren.

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