Herman J. Russell

Herman Jerome Russell (December 23, 1930 – November 15, 2014) was an entrepreneur and influential figure in Atlanta, Georgia.

Herman J. Russell
Born	Atlanta, Georgia
Died	November 15, 2014(2014-11-15) (aged 83) Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation	Entrepreneur

Business career

Russell served as the first African American member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He founded H. J. Russell & Company, the largest minority-owned real estate and construction business in the United States.^[6][7] Russell was a 1991 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, and received the title Georgia Trustee from the Georgia Historical Society in 2013.^[1] Russell's autobiography Building Atlanta was published in April 2014, shortly before his death.^[8]

Death

Herman J. Russell died on November 15, 2014, at the age of 83, in Atlanta Georgia and was buried at South-View Cemetery.^[9] After his death, DNA proved that Russell fathered a daughter out of wedlock, Joycelyn Alston. Courts ruled that Alson was not entitled to any portion of his estate as he had left behind a will disinheriting any potential children born out-of-wedlock.

References

1. "Herman J. Russell (1930–2014)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
2. "Herman J. Russell built legacy in Atlanta". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
3. "International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame – Herman J. Russell". nps.gov. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2020. A quiet, but influential civic leader, Russell worked very closely with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. He became the first black member, and later president, of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
4. Suggs, Ernie (November 15, 2014). "Atlanta business icon Herman J. Russell has died". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on February 10, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020. Herman J. Russell, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who turned a small plastering firm into one of the nation's most successful African-American-owned real estate development and construction companies, died Saturday. He was 83. Russell, a lifelong Atlantan who counted among his friends several presidents and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., helped shape the city's skyline and wielded influence far beyond his hometown.
5. "History". H.J. Russell & Company. Retrieved February 10, 2020. With the skills his father taught him, he, with the help of friends, built a duplex on a vacant lot he had saved up to purchase. He saved up enough rental income from that duplex to pay for his college education at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he earned his degree in building construction in 1952 and worked as a subcontractor with his brother Roger Russell assisting. This was also the year that Herman founded H. J. Russell Plastering Company in Atlanta, which would later become H. J. Russell & Company.
6. Myrick-Harris, Clarissa (2006). "Herman Jerome Russel (1930- ), Business Mogul, Community Leader, Philanthropist". In Smith, Jessie Carney (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American Business: A-J. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 704–707. ISBN 978-0-313-33110-7. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
7. Harris, Robert L. Jr.; Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn (2006). The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939. Columbia University Press. pp. 199–200. ISBN 978-0-231-51087-5. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
8. "BUILDING ATLANTA by Herman J. Russell , Bob Andelman". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on February 10, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
9. Henderson, D.L. (2018). South-View: An African American City of the Dead. Dunwoody, Georgia: Carrelspin Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0998577203. OCLC 1048552699.