Herman Russell started his entrepreneurial career at 12 when he opened a shoeshine business. He took $125 from the profits, according to a biography on the Concessions International website, and used it to buy a duplex.
The entrepreneur, philanthropist and champion for diversity later founded H.J. Russell & Co., a general contracting firm, and Concessions International, an airport concessions operator. Both companies have been involved in major projects in Atlanta and across the U.S.
Russell, 83, died last weekend after a brief illness. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed credited Russell for “shattering” countless barriers and creating greater opportunities for all, particularly African Americans.
“The city of Atlanta has lost one of its best men,” Reed says. “No words can express the depth of our sorrow and nothing will ever fill the void created by the passing of Mr. Herman J. Russell. … When history catches its breath, Mr. Russell’s life work will place him among the most significant heroes of the Civil Rights Movement because of his unwavering contributions and commitment to the progress of this city and nation.”
Bill Swift was working as an assistant to then-Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson when he met Russell. The two stayed in touch over the years and Swift, now president and owner of Business Traveler Services Inc., later suggested to Russell that he join forces with another heavyweight Atlanta businessman, restaurateur James Paschal, to bid on concessions together at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL). They won.
“He was quietly aggressive,” Swift says of Russell. “He was just smart in that way that he saw opportunities where others did not.”
By that time, Russell had started Concessions International with two partners. In 1979, the company, at the time a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, won space in the International Terminal at Los Angeles International (LAX).
In 1984, Concessions International won its first attempt at an independent bid, entering an agreement to sublease space at Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) and 10 years later became a prime contractor, winning multiple locations at Portland International (PDX). Russell bought out his partners in 1999, making the company family owned.
Swift credited Russell for ensuring that his three children all had good educations, both formally in college and through the family businesses. Each of them now operates a portion of the family’s portfolio: Donata Russell Major is CEO of Concessions International; Jerome Russell is president of Russell New Urban Development, a division of H.J. Russell & Co.; and Michael Russell is vice chair at CI and CEO of H.J. Russell & Co.
Outside of business, Swift says, Russell was known for being a quiet contributor behind the scenes to several philanthropic causes and for helping behind the scenes in moving civil rights forward in Atlanta.
“He wasn’t so much marching down the street, but all those civil rights leaders and organizations that supported a move for participation or no longer coming through the back door or not being allowed to eat at the counter, he, like James Paschal, would donate, arrange to pay for some meals or put money in their hands for them to do what they had to do,” Swift says. “All the political leaders knew him and respected him – and he them.”
Andrew Young, a two-term mayor of Atlanta, former congressman and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a foreword to Russell’s book “Building Atlanta: How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire”: “Looking back on all he’s done for our city and the people in it, I guess the only way to do Herman Russell justice is to say that when it came to building Atlanta over all these years, he’s played a role in everything.”
A funeral service for Russell will be held Saturday in Atlanta.
