Although few knew the magnitude of his endeavors, Ben E. May’s contributions are now recognized by the giants of the medical field.
Ben E. May, a Mobile businessman, contributed more to the eradication of suffering and disease than many scientists. At the age of 15, he worked in a sawmill where he learned about the enterprise in which he would make his fortune. After one year of formal higher education at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he moved to Mobile. May quickly recognized the value of timber property and began acquiring cut-over lands with the idea of reforesting them. May’s fortune was made during World War I as he supplied England with much-needed timber for the war effort. May took the money he made from this venture and invested it inland in southwest Alabama, Florida, and California. He founded and became president of the Gulf Lumber Company in Mobile in 1940 and served as vice-president of Blackwell Nurseries. He also served as director of the First National Bank of Mobile and Morrison’s Cafeteria. May’s real success in life came from his intense desire to use his wealth to assist others. May supported the Weizmann Institute; Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin; Dr. Paul Dudley White, renowned cardiologist; and Dr. Charles B. Huggins, director of cancer research at the University of Chicago. May was also instrumental in establishing the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham.
