John M. Harbert
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John Murdoch Harbert III (born July 19, 1921 in Greenville, Mississippi; died 1995 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American businessman. He is best known for building numerous companies that evolved into Harbert Management Company, a company based in Birmingham with $7.5 billion in assets as of 2007.
Mr. Harbert served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He received a degree in civil engineering from Auburn University in 1946. In 1949, he founded the Harbert Corporation. The company and its subsidiaries engaged in mining, pipeline development, land development, limestone quarrying, road construction, and much more. Harbert projects are numerous in Alabama, but the company had many projects in the Middle East as well. In metro Birmingham, Harbert's best known projects include the Elton B. Stephens Expressway (also called the Red Mountain Expressway, U.S. Highway 280); the Riverchase planned community; the accompanying Riverchase Galleria, the state's largest shopping center; and the AmSouth-Harbert Plaza.
A lengthy section of Interstate 459, the belt highway around the south side of metro Birmingham, is named for Harbert.
Harbert was a noted philanthropist, with numerous contributions to projects in Alabama, particularly to Auburn and to Birmingham-Southern College, where a building bears his wife's name.
Harbert was married to the former Marguerite “Wita” Jones. The couple had three children, John Murdoch IV, Raymond, and Marguerite.
[edit] Books
- John M. Harbert III: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer, (ISBN 0-9666546-0-9) by Leah Rawls Atkins, Tarva House, Birmingham, Alabama (1999)
[edit] External links
- Harbert Management Company
- Harbert Realty
- Harbert's entry in Alabama Academy of Honor
- Harbert bio in Alabama Business Hall of Fame (University of Alabama)
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