Location: Montgomery AL

Frank A. Plummer

  • October 26th, 2021

Frank A. Plummer spent only thirty-four of his seventy-five years of life in Alabama, but he left an indelible mark on the state’s economic future. He was the man who helped change the face of banking in Alabama through for­mation of the first registered multi-bank holding company in the state-First Alabama Bancshares, lnc.-officially sanctioned in 1971 by the Federal Reserve Board of Washington.

The company began with three banks-First National of Montgomery, First National of Huntsville, and Exchange Security of Birming­ham. Under Frank Plummer’s guidance as Chairman of the Board and CEO from 1971 until his retirement on December 31, 1983, the company grew from a three bank holding company with assets of $576 million to a $3 billion organization with 24 banks and 5 non-banking subsidiaries.

Frank A. Plummer, the youngest child of Charles and Nettie Dwight Plummer, was born on June 18, 1912, in the small town of Richland, New York, near the Canadian border. As Frank Plummer related in an address to the Newcomen Society in 1983, his father (an entrepreneur in the best tradition of the Newcomen Society) died when the young boy was in elementary school. His mother, a young widow with tremendous responsibilities, delegated the moral and social areas of his training to his sister and the areas, such as baseball, basketball, trapping, and shooting to his brother.

While attending school, young Frank also worked in a grocery store which his father had acquired-bagging groceries and running to the local bank for change. Said Frank Plummer in 1983, “It didn’t take long for even a nine-year­old boy to discover that the local banker did less work than any man in town. My career. was selected.”

Though Frank Plummer often joked about his choice of career being associated with little work, his life belies his statement.

After graduation from high school, he worked his way through Syracuse University where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s degree in political science.

The young man began his banking career in 1936 with Marine Midland Bank in Cortland, NY, in a clerk’s position – listed one step above the maintenance engineer (janitor) in the bank’s annual report. In Cortland, Frank Plummer met his beloved wife Elizabeth (Betsy) Higgins. In later years, Frank Plummer, with his puckish sense of humor, said that Betsy could always refute any claim he made to “starting at the bottom” in his banking career.

In 1940, he answered his country’s call by joining the infantry. Serving in the Pacific area of combat, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, he was appointed Executive Vice President and Director of the Marine Bank & Trust Company of Tampa, FL.

In 1953, the Plummers moved to Montgomery, AL, where he became the Executive Vice President and Director of The First National Bank of Montgomery (which became the First Alabama Bank of Montgomery).

During the next five years, he became known for his high ethical standards and for his forward-thinking and entrepreneurial acumen. This “New York Yankee” found ready acceptance in the Deep South because he was the epitome of a gentleman-a gentle and courtly, kind, gracious man who worked diligently for the good of his profession and the community.

In 1958, Frank Plummer became the President of Birmingham Trust National Bank and was promoted to Chairman and Director in 1961. In 1964, he returned to Montgomery as President of the First National Bank of Montgomery. He was named Chairman of the Board and President in 1969.

In the early 1970′ s, Frank Plummer (represent­ing First National of Montgomery) began negotiation with First National of Huntsville and Exchange Security of Birmingham with the ob­jective of establishing a wider pool of resources for economic growth in the state. The legislation prohibited branch banking which would permit banks to marshal their financial resources when money was tight.

The first application for a registered holding company, filed with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, was turned down. However, opposition to the new concept in banking was subsequently overcome, and First Alabama Bancshares, Inc. received official sanction from the Federal Reserve Board in Washington on June 13, 1971. The holding company became a key to progress in Alabama, opening the door to greener pastures for the people of the state through ac­cess to money and job opportunities.

Frank Plummer has been called a “banker’s banker.” A graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, Rutgers University, he also served as an instructor and member of the Board of Regents there and as a faculty member of the Southwestern School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.

He was a director of the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and a director and member of the Executive Commit­tee of the Association of Registered Bank Holding Companies.

Frank Plummer did not fit the stereotype of a banker. He had his own style. In all seasons, he wore an English Hornberg tipped at a rakish angle over his brow and dressed impeccably like a sophisticated man-of-the-world. “Mr. P,” as many employees called him, added a personal touch to the employer-employee relationship. He knew most employees by name and always ex­pressed interest in them and their work.

Debonair Frank Plummer was also known as a “workhorse” in the local and state civic arena.

For example, he served as Director and President of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce; Director of the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce; and a director of the Alabama Power Company and of the Maytag Company of Newton, Iowa. He worked as Chairman of the Advisory Board and Director of the Montgom­ery Salvation Army and chairman of the Men of Montgomery.

Firmly committed to education, he served as a member of the advisory boards of Auburn University at Montgomery; the University of Alabama Medical Center; and Jackson Hospital Foundation. He was also a member of The Board of Visitors of Berry College and of The Board of Governors of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges. He was a director of the Southern Research Foundation and of Alabama Bankers Association Educational Foundation.

For his many accomplishments and contributions, Frank Plummer was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Huntingdon College, Montgomery, in 1972.

Frank Plummer died in Montgomery on Oc­tober 3, 1987, with his beloved wife Betsy and old friends standing by his side.

Banking had been his life and what he had done to develop banking was what he had enjoyed most. But Frank Plummer also loved people.

This successful, sophisticated executive was one who would stand at the door of the bank to welcome customers with apples at Christmastime.

Perhaps, these are some of the reasons that those who were privileged to know him will cherish the memory.

Sources of biographical information: An address by Frank A. Plummer to the Newcomen Society of the United States, in Bir­mingham, September 15, 1983 (published in April 1984); Alison L. Large, “Frank Plummer dies; pioneered state multi-bank holding firms, “The Birmingham News, October 5, 1987, p. 2A; The Latest Word, First Alabama Bank’s Monthly Publication, · October 31, 1987; “Notable Banker dies at age 75,” Birmingham Post Herald, October 5, 1987, p. C6; Starr Smith, “A banker’s banker: Debonair Frank Plummer, “The Montgomery Independent, October 15, 1987, p.7.

Aaron M. Aronov

  • October 26th, 2021

Aron M. Aronov was a man of vision who through hard work, realistic evaluation of circumstances, and service to his fellow man, made the American Dream come true. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 22, 1919, he was one of five children of Jake and Norah (Varlow) Aronov. His father had immigrated to the United States in 1912 from what is now Kiev in Ukraine.

After graduating from Sidney Lanier High School in 1937, he completed two years as a student in business at The University of Alabama before being forced to leave because of illness in 1939.

In 1942, after his father died, Aaron Aronov took charge of his father’s wholesale auto parts and tire business while his brothers were in the armed forces during World War II. (Medical reasons disqualified him from service.) He maintained the business to support the family. Because he did not really like the auto tire and parts business, he ventured into real estate as a sideline, as his father had done in a modest way.

Aaron Aronov’s astute business sense (inherited from his father, according to reports from those who knew them both) brought him success in his early endeavors in real estate sales and development. Thus in 1952, he left the family business and opened a realty office. Under Aaron Aronov’s leadership, this one-man operation would become Aronov Realty Company, Inc. – one of the largest and most diversified real estate firms in the South. He built a record of achievement by blending the visions and techniques of the future with the wisdom gained from yesterday.

In 1954, Aronov Realty made its debut in the shopping center field with Normandale (in Montgomery) – the first planned regional shopping center in Alabama. The company’s portfolio today includes over 15 million square feet of shopping center space – placing the company in the top 25 managers of retail property in the nation. The company has also become the fifth fastest-growing shopping center developer in the U.S

Aronov Realty Company, Inc. is now active in 15 states with not only a variety of shopping centers but also apartment complexes, resort condominiums, motels, office buildings, and warehouses. Through its subsidiary, Aronov Insurance, Inc., the company also provides a sensible approach to risk management to hundreds of firms by carefully analyzing their exposure to loss and thereby developing the best possible insurance programs.

Aaron Aronov rose to prominence as an innovative business leader while serving as President of Aronov Realty Co., Inc. from 1952. to 1984 and as Chairman of the Board from 1984 until his death in 1991.

He also became known as a man who gave generously of his time, efforts, and tangible resources in support of the well-being of the people of Alabama.

This pioneer in the development of shopping centers was, for example, one of the founding members (and later president) of the International Council on Shopping Centers, an educational and trade organization with over 25,000 members in the United States and foreign countries.

In his hometown, he was involved in “everything that was good for the community.” He was a founding member of the Industrial Development Board and a charter member of the Montgomery Area Committee of 100. He also served as chairman of the Montgomery Water and Sewer Board and as a member of the board of the YMCA. He was president of the Junior

Chamber of Commerce and the Montgomery Chapter of the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis.

He was a member of The Board of Directors of Central Bank of the South and of St. Jude Catholic Hospital. He was also a member of the State of Alabama Industrial Revenue Bond Council and the State of Alabama Commission on Higher Education Council of Twenty-one. He was also one of five trustees of the state’s $450 million Heritage Trust Fund. Initially appointed by Governor Fob James, he was reappointed by both Governor George Wallace and Governor Guy Hunt. He served as president of the Jewish Federation of Montgomery and of Agudath Israel Synagogue and was a trustee of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Aaron Aronov was also an enthusiastic supporter of The University of Alabama because, according to reports, he believed that the University could be the fountainhead for new industry and a better life for the people of Alabama. He gave generously of his time and energy as a member of the President’s Cabinet as well as the Board of Visitors of the College of Commerce and Business Administration.

He also served for seven years (1983-1990) as a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System. During his tenure on the Board, he played a key role in the growth of the U.A. System through service on the finance, investment, and audit committees. Aaron Aronov was also instrumental in raising over $1 million to fund a Chair of Judaic Studies at the University – later named in his honor. He also established an endowed scholar­ ship fund which assists deserving full-time students.

It has been said that all these endeavors stemmed from Aaron Aronov’s twin heritage – his dedication to his native Alabama and to his Judaic faith.

For his many-faceted contributions, Aaron Aronov received well-deserved recognition during his lifetime.

In 1982, he was named to the First Hall of Fame of the Montgomery Board of Realtors; he was the recipient of the Julia Tutwiler Distinguished Service Award at The University of Alabama and of the First Annual Marketers Award bestowed by the Sales and Marketing Executives International Club of Montgomery. He was also the recipient of the Brotherhood Medallion awarded by the National Conference of Christians and Jews in recognition of contributions to the improvement and general welfare of inter-group relations.

In 1988, Aaron Aronov was elected to the Alabama Academy of Honor for accomplishments and services greatly benefiting and reflecting great credit on the state. And, at Commencement Exercises in May 1991, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by his alma mater – The University of Alabama – which he had served so well.

On December 12, 1991, ten days before he would have had his 72nd birthday, Aaron Aronov died at home of heart failure after an extended illness.

To paraphrase the words of Leon Weinberger, editor of the Judaic series at The University of Alabama, Aaron Aronov was a genius and to Alabama’s lasting benefit, he shared his gift.

Aaron Aronov is survived by his wife, Marjorie; two sons, Jake, and Owen; and daughter, Teri Aronov Grusin.

Jake Aronov, as president of Aronov Realty, Inc., and Owen, as Executive Vice-President, are continuing to lead the company in the tradition of excellence set by their father.

Edward Lewis Lowder

  • October 26th, 2021

Lowder was born in Cortelyou in Washington County, Alabama, where he graduated from high school at age 16. He enrolled in Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, where he earned a degree in Agricultural Science. Lowder was a county agent until 1942 when he was called into the United States Army and served in several major World War II European campaigns. In 1946, he started the insurance company, from which he retired in 1980 as executive vice-president and CEO. The insurance company was the state’s largest and had become a model of success. He also became chairman of the board of First Commerce Corporation in New Orleans, which he rebuilt into one of the most successful banks in the state. He served on a number of civic and charitable organizations and contributed generously to Auburn University and The University of Alabama College of Commerce and Business Administration. Auburn University conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Goodwin L. Myrick

  • October 25th, 2021

Goodwin L. Myrick’s resume belies the fact that he has been a farmer all his life.

President and chief executive officer are the words that jump out at the reader and listed beneath those terms are so many organizations that one might overlook the second, and key, word in the first listing: Alabama Farmers Federation. But there is no overlooking Goodwin Myrick, or the influence he has had on business and agriculture in the state of Alabama.

Goodwin L. Myrick was born May 9, 1925, in Etowah County, Alabama, to Marion Myrick and Lillie Burgess Myrick. He grew up a farmer, tilling the family soil, and establishing his first dairy herd in 1944 with eight cows. Today, with more than 400 Holstein dairy cows and 700 head of beef cattle, his dairy, beef cattle and farm opera­tions encompass two farms and more than 2,000 acres in Etowah and Talladega counties. The farming operation is run through M&H Farms, a partnership between Mr. Myrick, his son Greg, his daughter Donna and her husband Tony Haynes.

Mr. Myrick began the executive side of his career by joining and progressing through the ranks of Alabama’s largest farm organi­zation, following in his father’s footsteps as president of the Etowah County Farm Bureau Federation. Later he was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation, the predecessor organization to the Alabama Farmers Federation. He was then selected as a vice president of that organization, and later, in 1969, as first vice president – a capacity in which he served for some nine years. In 1978, with the support of a grassroots movement within the organization, he was elected president. The members of the Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance Companies Group have confirmed that original vote eight times since, and Mr. Myrick is currently serving his ninth term.

Since his first term in office, membership in the Federation has increased each year, growing from 223,000 members in 1980 to almost 400,000 today, making it the largest farm organization in Alabama and one of the largest in the nation. The Alfa Insurance Group has also seen an annual growth rate of 22.3 percent, expanding from a small, one-state operation into one of the strongest regional insurance groups in the United States. The Alfa Corporation, of which he is also president and chief executive officer, is now a publicly-traded insurance holding company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and listed five times in one 10-year period by Forbes Magazine as one of the “200 Small Best Companies in America.” In 1991, the Corporation was recognized as one of the Top 50 small company stocks in the nation by U.S. News and World Report and has been honored five times in the 1990s by National Underwriter as one of the Top 50 insurance companies in the nation.

Mr. Myrick led Alfa’s growth and expan­sion efforts in many ways. Under his leadership several subsidiary corporations have been formed or have been changed or improved to the extent that all are now operating at significant positive profit levels, including Alfa Investment Company; Alfa Realty, Incorporated; Alfa Builders, Incorporated; and Southern Boulevard Corporation. Under his leadership, an insurance pooling agreement was implemented that essentially changed Alfa Corporation from a life insurance holding company to a multi-line insurance holding company, with subsequent significant operational and financial benefits to the entire insurance corporation. He has also established an in-house advertising agency, Creative Consultants, Incorporated, which handles all of the Alfa Insurance, affiliate companies, and Alabama Farmers Federation advertising and placement.

Over the years Goodwin Myrick has said that one of the keys to his corporate success has been his strong belief that the greatest assets of his companies are the people who work for them and the persons whom they serve, both farmers and insurance policy­holders. This philosophy played out into the concrete reality of a significant decline in the annual rate of personnel turnover. It went, for general employees, from approximately 52 percent at the time he became president to a current rate of about 11 percent at the headquarters office of the Alfa Companies in Montgomery, Alabama. For agents, on a statewide basis, the drop was even more dramatic: from about 85 percent at the time of Mr. Myrick’s election to a current rate of about 15 percent.

One of Goodwin Myrick’s first management decisions after taking the helm as president of the Alfa Group was to elevate the role of the human resources department, having it report directly to the president and centralizing all personnel functions of the several affiliate corporations and organizations. Compensation and benefits packages were unified, and he initiated an incentive pay plan that still involves all employees, from the entry-level hourly wage earner to top management.

Continuing to implement his philosophy to put people first and to make Alfa a leader in corporate America, Mr. Myrick led his companies to build and provide for their employees a state-of-the-art childcare facility, licensed for 120 children, adjacent to the corporate offices in Montgomery, one of the first of its type in the state. He has also been responsible for planning and implementing a corporate fitness center.

Today Goodwin Myrick sits on the boards of directors of Compass Bank of the South; of the Alfa Corporation and all Alfa Insur­ance Corporations and subsidiary corporations; the Alabama 4-H Foundation; and the Auburn University College of Agriculture Advisory Council, of which he served as the first chairman. He has led Alfa’s participation in United Way and other charitable causes and civic programs and has been responsible in recent years for the Companies’ contribu­tions to many of the state’s universities, in­cluding The University of Alabama, Auburn University, Troy State University, Tuskegee University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has also implemented and expanded numerous individual scholarship programs, and under his direction, Alfa is a “Partner in Education” for two schools in the Montgomery County School System.

In 1990 Goodwin L. Myrick was named one of the 10 most influential men in the state of Alabama by Business Alabama Magazine, and in 1992 he was inducted into the Alabama Agricultural Hall of Honor.

And how would he like for history to remember him?

“I’ll tell you, “He once told the state’s capital city newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser. “My Daddy had this reputation – if you wanted to do – Something good for the community, then don’t pass my Daddy’s house (by). He’d always help you.

“We want to build a better community, a better state. I don’t want to be listed as a negative.”

Goodwin L. Myrick need not worry. He will be listed as a positive – and a farmer.

Adolph I. Weil, Jr.

  • October 11th, 2021

In a world where cotton was king, no one was ever more worthy of the title of crown prince than Adolph “Bucks” Weil.

Born February 8, 1915, to parents Rossie Schoenhof and Adolph I. Weil, Sr., in Montgomery, Alabama, Adolph I. Weil, Jr. would rise through the ranks of his family’s business to become a legend in the rough-and-tumble cotton industry, and along the way become firmly ensconced in the ranks of the most noted philanthropists of his hometown and state.

Christened with the nickname of Bucks by a camp counselor impressed with the child’s “million-dollar smile,” young Adolph began compiling a prestigious education dossier at the tender age of five upon his enrollment in Miss Gussie Woodruff’s classes. From there he went on to Barnes, another Montgomery private school, and to Culver Military Academy. At 16 Bucks graduated from the academy and was admitted to Dartmouth, one of the youngest in his class. He spent summers in Weil Brothers-Cotton, Inc. offices in New York and Montgomery, and traveling abroad, refining an appreciation for art that would later be reflected in an impressive collection in the firm’s Montgomery offices. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1935, with Harvard Law School next on the agenda.

But his heart was not in the law; family and friends said he played bridge more than he attended classes, and clearly had little interest in becoming an attorney. However, upon his graduation from Harvard in 1938 Bucks did make an application and was admitted to the Alabama Bar Association that same year. Later his tax law training would help him in business.

Bar association membership obtained, the young man went to work for his father and uncle at Weil Brothers-Cotton, a company founded by Bucks’ grandfather in 1878 in Opelika, Alabama. Bucks started at the bottom of the company as a “squidge,” sweeping floors and learning the art of grading cotton. Adolph, Sr. told Bucks that the younger man could not instruct others to do things unless he himself had done them and that others would not follow him unless he had done them. Earning $65 a month, the standard squidge wage at the time, Bucks began to diligently work his way to the top of the company.

In 1939, Bucks transferred from the Mont­gomery office to Dallas to broaden his knowledge about the cotton industry. Like everyone else, he had to trade cotton to get paid. In An American Harvest: The Story of Weil Brothers-Cotton, Bucks recalled a hands-on learning experience with his Uncle Leonel, with whom he traded cotton. “He tested me with a lot of questions, and I thought they required very involved answers when they were really very simple,” Bucks said. “He always reduces a problem to simplicity before he does anything.” The younger man would always remember that advice, even as he later became president and chairman of the board.

In 1941, Bucks was drafted into the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. At the end of World War Il, in 1945 he returned from Europe to Weil Brothers and Butler, a branch of Weil Brothers-Cotton, Inc., in New York. It was a dedication to and preoccupation with the cotton industry that caused Bucks to almost miss the opportunity of a lifetime. While conducting business in New York with Daniel F. Rice and Co., Bucks fell in love with a picture of a lovely young lady on Ralph Kaufman’s desk. The young lady turned out to be Kaufman’s daughter, Jean. On their second date, Bucks’ unspoken worries about a tremendous crash in the cotton market dismayed the young lady, who found her beau boring and later told him she never wanted to see him again. These contretemps soon passed, however, and the couple married on February 4, 1946. They had three children: Adolph I. Weil, III, Laurie Jean Weil, and Jan Katharine Weil.

Before his marriage to Jean, Bucks faced one of the biggest challenges in his career. The company’s records had fallen into disarray, and Bucks’ job was to put them back in order. In addition to endless days of analyzing records, Bucks still found time to take on tasks no one else seemed to have time for. His father’s words of leading by example were truly exemplified during this time as the younger man reorganized the books and successfully continued to conduct business. After many taxing months, Bucks had become a true cotton man and a leader by example.

Continuing the family tradition, in 1950 Bucks and his brother Bobby became directors and officers of the company. They served as their father’s and uncle’s assistants and deputies and became increasingly involved in top-level decisions. While working with Weil Brothers, Bucks became heavily involved with industry organizations, serving as president of the American Cotton Shippers Association and Atlantic Cotton Association, and as a director of the New York Cotton Exchange and National Cotton Council. Fol­lowing their father’s death in 1968, Bucks became chairman and his brother president of Weil Brothers-Cotton, Inc. With the cotton industry valued at $4.5 billion, Bucks and Bobby formed a holding company in 1980, Weil Enterprises and Investments, Ltd. The brothers assumed corresponding roles as Bucks became president and Bobby served as chairman of the holding company. In addition to expanding their grandfather’s business around the world, Bucks and Bobby were partners in Weil Hermanos, Inc., the Weil Selling Agency, and controlled the Swiss-based Unicosa. Working together, Bucks and Bobby built an empire in the cotton industry.

In 1995, tragedy struck the Weil family. Bucks, age 80, died December 12, 1995, because of a car accident in Montgomery. He left behind not only his wife, children, and five grandchildren, but also a legacy of philanthropy Throughout his career, Bucks donated generously – and often discreetly – to local endeavors. Bucks’ father had instilled in the younger man the belief of giving back to the community and set an example for his sons to follow with his anonymous donations.

Bucks more than fulfilled his responsibility to the community by serving as a board mem­ber of the Southern Research Institute, chairman of the Alabama Ethics Commission, and direc­tor of several organizations, including Goodwill Industries of Central Alabama, Tukabatchee Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Boy’s Club of Montgomery, American Cancer Society, United Way, and the Montgomery Food Bank, in addition to several other civic organizations. A project Bucks is most revered for was his personal crusade to save the Meals-on-Wheels program in the Montgomery area.

This Southern native’s commitment to and leadership in his hometown of Montgomery was recognized through several awards includ­ing the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award; being named United Way’s Man of the Year, the Montgomery Area Council on Aging’s Senior of Achievement, and the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow; and the Montgomery Advertiser Citizen of the Year Award, which he shared with his brother.

Bucks was once honored by his daughter Laurie in a ceremony of the Jewish Federa­tion of Montgomery. She said her father’s life always reflected Jewish values – the order provided by God’s laws, emphasis on educa­tion and family, and dedication to service to others.

Bucks Weil lived his values to the fullest and will be remembered always because of that.

Robert S. Weil

  • October 6th, 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William A. Williamson, Jr.

  • October 4th, 2021

William A. (Billy) Williamson, Jr., in his teen years, had visions of being a successful cattle farmer. After buying a pair of calves for a class project, nurturing them for a year, and selling them for less than he paid for them, he figured that maybe his skills lay in another direction. Instead of going to Auburn as he had planned, he enrolled in the business school at The University of Alabama and graduated with a degree in management.

Upon returning to his hometown of Montgomery in 1958, where he still lives when not in the mountains of Highlands, N.C., he embarked on his business career in the warehouse of Durr Drug Company. The company, founded as a grocery store in 1896, was known as Gay, Hardy, and Durr. In 1905 the company was incorporated as Durr Drug Company, a distributor of pharmaceuticals, hospital equipment, and supplies as well as health and beauty aids.

As he learned the business, Williamson worked in several capacities: data processing manager, company secretary, and treasurer, and vice president of operations until he was elected president and CEO in 1974 and chairman and CEO in 1981. Under his leadership, the company became public and sales grew from approximately $40 million to more than $1 billion in 1992, when it was acquired by Bergen Brunswick.  When asked what he thought made the company unique, he replied, “A strong employee work ethic, high company morale, and a dedication to quality customer service.”

Prior to the sale of the company, the decision had been made to endow a chair of business ethics at The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Commerce. Led by Williamson and Eddie Adair, company president, contributions from the company’s management team, its board of directors, and friends of the company made the chair a reality.

After the company was sold, Williamson resigned and pursued other business interests, working with Cordova Ventures (a venture capital firm), buying a publishing company that focused on wing shooting and fly fishing books, and along with others, purchasing a restaurant franchise. In 2002, Williamson and his son formed Whetstone Capital, a private investment company managed by his son.

Currently, Williamson is on the board of directors of Genesco, Inc., a specialty retailing company on the New York Stock Exchange. He is a past chairman and member of the board of directors of Jackson Hospital and is a member of the national board of Kairos Prison Ministries, a member of the Montgomery YMCA Metro Board, and the Board of Visitors of the University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Commerce. He is a member of the Chief Executive Organization.

Past board memberships include AmSouth Bankcorporation, Dunn Investment Company, co-chair of the River Region Tocqueville Society, Central Alabama Community Foundation, and president of the National Wholesale Drug Association.

Community Memberships have included the Montgomery Lion’s Club, the Men of Montgomery, and the Steering Committee of the Montgomery Chapter of Young Business Leaders. He was a member of Leadership Alabama, class of 1992-93, and in 1993 he received the Golden Hawk Award from Huntingdon College’s School of Business.

Active in church work, he is a former senior warden and Cursillo lay rector. He is currently a member of Christ Church XP, an Anglican Parish.

He enjoys outdoor activities including golf, fly fishing, bird hunting, clay, and skeet shooting, and training his own retrievers. He and his wife Pat have two children, Virginia Paige and William A. III, better known as Buster, and three grandchildren.

Nimrod T. Frazer, Sr.

  • October 4th, 2021

Mr. Frazer was born on December 10, 1929, in Montgomery, AL where he resides today.  He received his undergraduate degree from Huntingdon College in Montgomery in 1954 and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1956.  Mr. Frazer was a Lieutenant and Tank Platoon Leader in the Korean conflict where he received the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action.

The majority of Mr. Frazer’s business career has been spent in the financial services industry.  He was a broker for Sterne, Agee & Leach, executive vice president at Thornton, Farish & Gaunt, and co-founder and chairman of Frazer Lanier Company (dealer in both corporate and municipal securities).

In 1990, shortly before its bankruptcy, Mr. Frazer was elected to the Board of The Enstar Group, Inc.  He later accepted the chairman’s role and resigned from Frazer Lanier.  The company was in dire straits with the bankruptcy as well as former executives under indictment and massive debt.  Mr. Frazer took on the challenge.  He divested assets, collected judgments from executives, and paid down debt.  He transformed the company into a holding company of financial assets, primarily insurance and reinsurance companies.  Enstar’s market capitalization is over $1.5 billion.

Mr. Frazer has been active in numerous civic and charitable organizations such as chairman of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, member of Leadership Alabama, trustee of Huntingdon College, president of Lurleen B.Wallace Cancer Foundation, director of Alabama Mental Health Association, and many others.

Mr. Frazer and his wife, Lee, have been married for 51 years and have five children in addition to nine grandchildren.

John Michael Jenkins, IV

  • October 4th, 2021

To some, the word “green” indicates a lack of knowledge or experience. Although Mike Jenkins is certainly green, with more than 40 years in the brick industry he is anything but inexperienced. As the fourth generation at the helm of Jenkins Brick Co., he helped revolutionize the brick-making process in 1998, becoming one of the industry’s first manufacturers to use landfill gas rather than natural gas for firing the kilns. Jenkins Brick is the largest user of earth-friendly methane gas in the brick industry, and the company also harvests stormwater from the roofs of its manufacturing plants for use during production.

As worker-friendly as he is environmentally conscious, Jenkins treats his employees in an exemplary manner. From corporate executives to workers stacking brick, everyone is an “associate,” and each associate receives the same benefits. Everyone at Jenkins Brick is on a first-name basis, and Jenkins ensures equal treatment of all associates.

Jenkins has not always been an experienced and resourceful leader in the brick industry, however. In 1960, the 18-year-old graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama. Jenkins attended Washington and Lee University in Virginia and graduated in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and four years of ROTC training. He was then commissioned by the U.S. Army and served two years of active duty in Korea as an infantry officer. Jenkins received his parachutist badge as well as the Expert Infantryman Badge, and he was the only officer below the rank of major to receive the Army Commendation Medal during the 13-month tour.

After an honorable discharge in November 1966, Jenkins began his career with Jenkins Brick Co., a business founded in the late 1800s by his great-grandfather. Jenkins learned every aspect of the family trade, beginning in sales and working his way up to plant manager. He also continued his education, earning a master’s degree in ceramic engineering from Clemson University in 1969. In 1974, Jenkins advanced to the position of chief executive officer of the company, which at that time had three distribution locations in Alabama and Florida. Today, Jenkins Brick operates in nearly 30 locations throughout the Southeast, manufacturing and distributing its own brick as well as brick and building materials manufactured by others.

Jenkins Brick Co. has plants in Coosada, Montgomery, and St. Clair County in Alabama, which together produce more than 326 million bricks annually. In 1998, the plant in Montgomery was converted to run on landfill gas, and it now produces 110 million bricks each year while saving energy and benefitting the environment. The Coosada plant, originally built in 1959, began to produce high-end specialty brick in 2004 and makes 80 million bricks annually.

In 2006, Jenkins Brick built the St. Clair County facility, placing it just six miles from the local landfill so the kilns could be fueled with the methane gas produced by the waste.

The company’s current use of landfill methane reduces greenhouse gases each year in an amount equal to planting 14,700 acres of forest, removing the emission of 13,700 vehicles, or preventing the use of 166,000 barrels of oil.

Throughout the years, Jenkins Brick CO. has been recognized numerous times for outstanding business and environmental practices. The United States Environmental Protective Agency awarded Jenkins Brick with the 2006 Project of the Year, honoring the company’s earth-friendly plant in St. Clair County. Jenkins Brick was selected as one of 11 businesses worldwide to participate in a Harvard University study called “The Project on Global Working Families.” The green-minded Jenkins Brick is also a two-time recipient of the Alabama Wildlife Federation Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award for Air Conservationist of the Year, receiving the honor in 1999 and again in 2007. Jenkins Brick also received the Alabama Technology Council and Business Council of Alabama award for Medium Manufacturer of the Year in 2007. The same year, the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts, a national nonprofit organization uniting business and the arts, recognized the company’s involvement in the arts in Montgomery with the 2007 Business in the Arts Award. Then in 2008, Jenkins Brick received MAX Credit Union’s EcoMax Green Leadership Award and was also named among Inc. Magazine’s Top 5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America.

Jenkins, like his company, has amassed several awards for business leadership and community service. In 1999, Jenkins’ alma mater, Washington and Lee University, selected him as one of 250 leading alumni in honor of the school’s 250th anniversary. Jenkins’ high school, Sidney Lanier, honored him with the title of Outstanding Alumnus. Jenkins received the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award from the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and the Community Leadership Association awarded him its Distinguished Leadership Award. In 2008, the Montgomery Chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized Jenkins’ outstanding contributions to the architectural profession, awarding him the Mike Barrett Memorial Award. Most recently, Jenkins receive the highest honor in his industry, the Brick Institute of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jenkins has not only served as the leader of his company for decades but he has also been involved in numerous civic and service organizations, generously giving his time and leadership to the community. In the past, Jenkins acted as director and vice chairman of both the Montgomery Area United Way and the Montgomery Red Cross, and he directed the United Way’s 1999 capital campaign. He also served as a trustee for both the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind Foundation and the Nature Conservancy of Alabama. As a co-founder and an original steering committee member, Jenkins contributed to the formation of Leadership Montgomery and is co-founder, past chairman, and current director of Leadership Alabama, organizations that foster relationships that bridge social and ethnic boundaries. He is a past director of Jackson Hospital, the National Episcopal Church Foundation, and the Montgomery Area YMCA.

Over the years, Jenkins has been involved in several educational causes throughout the state and the country. He was a director of the alumni board at Washington and Lee and served on the board of governors for the Alabama Association of Private Colleges and Universities. He served as president and board chairman of Montgomery Academy, and he served as a director of the Montgomery City-Council Public Library.

In business, Jenkins has served as chairman of the Rebel Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization and director of the Society of International Business Fellows. He is a former chairman of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, a former director and vice chairman of the Alabama Association of Business and Industry, and a director of the Business Council of Alabama.

Currently, Jenkins continues to lead in numerous organizations. He serves as a director of the Alabama Archives and History Foundation and is a trustee of the Alabama Archives Museums. Jenkins also serves as director and vice-chairman of the Brick Industry Association and director of the Business Council of Alabama. In education, he is a director of the Alabama State University Foundation and a trustee of Huntingdon College. Jenkins also holds memberships in the Chief Executive Organization, the Society of International Business Fellows, and the World President’s Organization.

In 2007, the position of president of Jenkins Brick was filled by someone Jenkins wholeheartedly trusts: his son, Mike Jenkins V. The senior Jenkins said he did not want his son to feel forced into the family business. “I was very conscious to neither discourage nor encourage him to choose this path,” he said. But the younger Jenkins chose the brickmaking profession and worked his way through the ranks of the company. Jenkins said, “Seeing my soon now as an integral part of the company is one of the great pleasures of life.”

Jenkins and his wife, Kent, have four children and 11 grandchildren. He lives in Montgomery where he continues to serve as CEO and chairman of Jenkins Brick Co.

John A. Caddell

  • September 29th, 2021

For John A. Caddell, the old saying that “what goes around, comes around” has a special meaning.

John A. Caddell, 82, of Montgomery, was President and Chief Executive Officer at Blount Construction where he was responsible for some of the largest and most challenging projects in the world and led the company to international prominence.

After 31 years at Blount and at the height of the company’s success, Chairman and CEO Winton M. “Red” Blount suddenly asked Caddell, then age 52, to leave the company. Most believed that this was to make room at the top for his son. Under no obligation, Blount extended to Caddell full salary and benefits for five years. Caddell left Blount, but within a matter of weeks founded Caddell Construction where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board. He built the new company into a major player in domestic and international markets including U.S. diplomatic facilities, federal courthouses, high-tech research and development centers, prisons, hospitals, airports, hotels, power plants, manufacturing facilities, military barracks, and an even longer list of unique specialty projects.

Ten years after leaving Blount, in 1994, Caddell bought out the construction division of his former employer and his company posted revenues of more than $100 million, a figure that doubled two years later. Years later, Red Blount wrote that firing John Caddell was one of the worst business decisions of his life.

Caddell earned a bachelor of science degree in building construction from the Georgia Institute of Technology and attended Harvard Business School’s AMP Program, the University of Virginia Advanced Management Program, and the Top Management Briefing Course-American Management Association. He also attended Officer Engineer Technical School, USAF Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and served two years in the United States Air Force.

Caddell began his construction career as an estimator with Blount Construction in 1952. He was promoted to Vice President of Blount in 1963 and assumed duties of President and CEO from 1969 until 1983.

Since he established Caddell Construction Co., Inc. in 1983, the company has become one of the most respected general contractors in the nation. Caddell Construction has completed more than $7 billion in public and private projects and received multiple national honors from construction industry peers. Caddell has become a premier contractor for U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, including the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and is among a handful of U.S. general contractors with the sophisticated management and technical systems to effectively direct this type of, especially challenging project.

Caddell Construction was recently ranked by the “Engineering News Record” as the 88th largest U.S. general contractor, the 28th largest U.S. design and build prime contractor, and among the top 30 “Green” contractors nationwide.

John Caddell served as President and Board Member of the Montgomery Chapter of the Associated General Contractors and was a member of the Montgomery AmSouth Bank Board of Directors. He is a Lifetime Board Member and Past President of YMCA and a member of the Montgomery Area Committee of 100. He has also served as a member of the Board of the Alabama Baptist Foundation, the Montgomery Area United Way, and the Advisory Board at Auburn University at Montgomery, the Advisory Board for Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Board of Trustees at Samford University.

In 1998, he received the Distinguished Alumni Center Achievement Award from the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture. He was selected by the Alabama Associated Builders and Contractors as the 2004 Recipient of the Cornerstone Award for outstanding contributions to the construction industry; followed by election from the Associated General Contractors of Alabama to its Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2010, he received the Frank Plummer Memorial Arts Award for outstanding support and contributions to the fine arts from the Montgomery Business Committee for Fine Arts.

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