When Fred Hahn was growing up, he was known to have a pretty good fastball, a talent he parlayed into pocket money in semipro baseball until he threw his arm out by pitching three games in three days.
So Hahn turned his attention to business, and in so doing over the years created, expanded, and sold multiple companies throughout the Southeast, building a far-flung business empire that stretches from the Gulf Coast to central Kentucky.
Now, at age 80, Hahn focuses much of his time on First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, where he serves as deacon; the Helen Hahn Hospice House, named for his wife, and the Hahn-da-rosa, a sprawling, 1000-acre spread in Hale Country that has been recognized as a TREASURE Forest Award winner for southwest Alabama.
And like many successful businessmen, Hahn insists that most of the credit for his business success goes to his faith, his wife, his family, and friends.
“All the children and my wife have been very instrumental in the growth of the company,” Hahn said.
Hahn attended Mississippi College in Clinton and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1952. He spent his first 10 years after college working in sales and public relations with the Illinois Central Railroad.
Hahn then settled in Tuscaloosa in 1963 and started a small trucking company named Service Express, Inc. Hahn’s emphasis on the family’s involvement began there where his wife worked alongside him.
Always one to take advantage of an opportunity, in 1968, Hahn formed Tuscaloosa Warehouse, Inc. and followed that by taking over Indec, a waste handling company, in the early 1970s. His foresight, creativity, and concern for the environment helped him establish and reorganize several different types of waste disposal facilities for both hazardous and solid waste. About that same time, in 1970, Hahn became an agent for United Van Lines in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham and sold that company in 1977.
In 1979, he sold Indec to Waste Management, Inc., the leading firm in the field, and Hahn and sons Philip and Gregory formed Seapac, Inc. in Mobile. Seapac packages, re-packages, warehouses and distributes large shipments of chemicals overseas. The company includes a paper converting division. Philip Hahn developed and manages the packaging plants, and Gregg Hahn developed and manages the paper converting plants.
Throughout the 1990s, Seapac opened divisions in Baytown, Texas, Atlanta, Bastrop, La., Eddyville, Ky., and St. Mary’s, Ga.
With his sons operating and expanding Seapac, Hahn turned his efforts to Tuscaloosa Warehouse and Industrial Warehouse Services Trucking Company.
In 2005, Hahn’s companies employed about 450 people and today employ nearly 350.
Mississippi College, a Baptist University, has had a guiding influence on Hahn, and his alma mater and his church have a special place in his heart. “My church work and my faith are very strong with me,” Hahn said.
He is a member of the board of trustees at Mississippi College where he has been active on the university’s financial committee, a member of the DCH Foundation Board, and the Hospice of West Alabama. He is a member of the United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society.
Hahn believes very strongly in the mission of Hospice and helped raise money for the facility named after his wife, a decision his sons and daughter made to honor their mother.
“He cares deeply about others and is always there to give of himself and his resources to those in need,” said Leroy McAbee, a Tuscaloosa businessman who nominated Hahn for the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.
Hahn has also been a member and officer of the Birmingham Traffic and Transportation Club, West Alabama Traffic and Transportation Club, Toastmasters Club, Alabama Industrial Association, The Boys Club of West Alabama, Boy Scouts of America, the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, the Industrial Development Authority, the Business Council of Alabama, and the Tuscaloosa Country Club.
