After less than a year in Jasper, the young man evidently decided that his future lay in Alabama, for he received authorization from his brother to open a branch office of Daniel Construction Company in 1935 as a new vice president of the company.
By the time that he retired in 1977, Hugh Daniel had become the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of one of the nation’s largest publicly owned, full-service construction companies-Daniel International Corporation. He had led the way for the organization of general contractors in Alabama. He had exhibited his faith in the future of Birmingham-concretely, through such structures as the 20-story Daniel Building in the downtown area, and less visibly, in the contribution of his time and talents to almost every worthy cause in the community.
Born in Anderson, South Carolina, on September 1, 1906, Robert Hugh Daniel was the youngest of five sons of James Fleming and Leila Mildred (Adams) Daniel. Even during his elementary and middle school days in Anderson public schools, young Hugh showed the same eagerness to learn and to achieve that he did in later years.
Always an excellent student, at an early age he also had the initiative to secure a paper route. While completing his secondary education at Piedmont High School and Junior College in Demorest, Georgia, he worked as a typesetter for the local newspaper; and after graduation from high school, he continued his newspaper work for a year until his next oldest brother could complete his senior year at Georgia Tech.
Hugh Daniel then entered the Citadel, the military college in South Carolina, where he achieved a distinguished record as a scholar and as a leader in extracurricular activities. An English major, he became the valedictorian of the Class of 1929. He participated in almost all phases of college life as editor-in-chief of the college paper, as vice president of the senior class, and as a leader in various athletic, cultural and social organizations. During the summer months, he continued to show energetic drive by working for Townsend Lumber Company in Anderson, South Carolina.
When Hugh Daniel graduated from The Citadel in 1929, the Great Depression had begun. Even with his outstanding college record, he felt fortunate to get work as a night clerk at the Atlanta YMCA where a small salary and room and board were provided. Then, in 1934, came the opportunity to join his brother’s newly founded construction company, called the Daniel Construction Company, in Anderson, S.C.
In November of that year, Hugh Daniel was sent to supervise the building of the Bank head Housing Project in Jasper, Alabama. And while the project was under construction, he persuaded his brother Charles to let him remain in Alabama. Thus, in 1935, Hugh Daniel opened a branch office of Daniel Construction Company in the Webb-Crawford Building in Birmingham and was made vice president of Daniel Construction Company.
A year later, he married Martha Stone Cobb of Vernon, Alabama; and the Daniel family began to become an important part of the business, civic, cultural, and educational life of Birmingham. The couple subsequently had two sons-Robert Hugh, Jr. (now of Atlanta) and Charles William (of Birmingham). Within three years after Hugh Daniel opened the office in Birmingham, his impact on the construction industry in Alabama was apparent. He foresaw the need and initiated the move to organize general contractors into an Alabama Branch of Associated General Con tractors. He served as president of the organization both in 1941 and 1949 and was later named a life member.
When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, Daniel Construction Company received two of its largest contracts to date-to build shipyards in Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia. As soon as the shipways for the Liberty ships were completed, Hugh Daniel volunteered for military service. He served as a lieutenant in the U. S. Navy Civil Engineering Corps from 1943 to 1945.
Returning to Birmingham after his discharge from the Navy, the young vice president of Daniel Construction Company rose to the challenge of the demand for construction during the next ten years. By 1955, he had been made President and Treasurer of the company. In 1957, the company built the Bank for Savings Building, the first high-rise building to be constructed in Birmingham since 1927. Hugh Daniel’s theory was that if space was avail able, new firms would be attracted to the city.
In 1964, after the death of his brother Charles, Hugh Daniel was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Daniel Construction Company. In that same year, he helped found Central Bank and Trust (now Central Bank of the South) and remained as Chairman of the Board until 1979; and he became Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer of Daniel Realty Corporation, formed as a subsidiary of Daniel Construction Company.
To his adopted hometown, Hugh gave many hours of service to various cultural and educational organizations. He also served as a director of the Alabama Gas Corporation, Florida National Banks o Florida, Inc., Southern Bank, and Trust Company in Greenville, South Carolina, and the United States Pipe and Foundry Company.
In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded four honorary degrees: a Doctor o Science by the Citadel in 1957 and by Piedmont College in 1965; a Doctor of Humanities by Birmingham-Southern College in 1976; and a Doctor of Letters by the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1977. In 1976, he was elected to the Alabama Academy of Honor, and in 1977-78 was listed in “Who’s Who in America.”
Robert Hugh Daniel died at a Birmingham hospital on October 28, 1983.
