Noted entrepreneur, civic leader and Atlanta native Herman J. Russell Sr,. Chairman of H. J. Russell & Company, announced plans in early November 1999 to donate $1 million each to Tuskegee University, Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business to expand their respective programs in entrepreneurship. The $4 million total pledge is the largest gift to entrepreneurship by an African-American in the nation's history.

"We live in an entrepreneurial society, and I've enjoyed considerable success as an entrepreneur. I want to encourage others to become business owners as a viable alternative to the traditional corporate career route," Russell said. "Entrepreneurial success is about behavior, the decisions you make, learning to innovate - and not about personality. I am confident the student entrepreneurs at Tuskegee, Clark Atlanta, Morehouse and Georgia State University will capitalize on this opportunity."

The Robinson College has named the International Center for Entrepreneurship for Mr. Russell and will launch several new initiatives including the Herman J. Russell Entrepreneurship Awards program.

The Russell gift also will help support the student entrepreneur internship program, create the Herman J. Russell Senior Professorship and support research on entrepreneurship.

"We are delighted to have our International Center for Entrepreneurship associated with someone of Mr. Russell's stature," said Dean Sidney E. Harris, "Mr. Russell's gift will be a tremendous boost to our efforts in entrepreneurship as we begin the 21st century."

Russell's entrepreneurial career began early in his life. At 16, he purchased his first parcel of land and built a duplex. After graduating from Tuskegee Institute's building program, he returned to Atlanta to work alongside his father as a plastering subcontractor. In 1952, he extended the business into H.J. Russell & Company, which is now one of the nation's largest minority-owned firms and one of Atlanta's largest real estate and construction companies. The firm has consistently ranked in the top 10 of Black Enterprise's "Top 100" Minority Black Enterprise (MBEs) in America and first amongconstruction MBEs.

Some of Russell's more visible projects in the Southeast include Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport (providing both program management and general contracting services), Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, Turner Field (previously Olympic Stadium), Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia Dome. Private-sector projects include headquarters for Georgia-Pacific, Wachovia and The Village at Castleberry Hill. Subsidiaries of H.J. Russell & Company include Russell Properties (formed in 1991), an Atlanta-based real estate development company and Concessions International (created in 1978), which operates food and beverage concessions in various international airports.

- The State of Business, Spring 2000