Donald Reed Sr., a leader in Pensacola business, life and community, died at age 86
A respected Pensacola entrepreneur who helped uplift many others in the African American community passed away last week.
Donald Reed Sr. died Jan. 22 at age 86, and those who knew him remember not only his hard work and perseverance, but the love he had for his community.
“He was the type of person that was willing to help anybody in any way that he possibly could,” his son Donald Reed Jr. said.
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Reed Sr. was born in old Warrington to John Reed Sr. and Josephine White Reed on May 18, 1936. He attended Judy Andrews Elementary and at an early age when his father became ill, he went to work with his mother’s privately owned Sanitation Company, Reed Sanitation, during the 1950s. He continued working with his mother and held positions as early as age 14 as a school bus driver. He also loaded movie reels in the local movie theater until he left home at the age of 17 and bought his first home.
Reed also worked with his brother, John, at Benboe Funeral Home, which sparked his interest in funeral services.
As the years progressed, he became the first African American man in Pensacola to start his own vault company, Reed Vault Company. In conjunction with his sanitation service, he blended the two companies and established Reed Sanitation and Vault Company in the early 1960s and continued operation into the 1990s.
In the 1970s he and his brothers opened and operated Reed’s Funeral Home. He later became a sole proprietor and eventually opened a second funeral home, Baldwin Community Chapel, in Bay Minette, Alabama.
He was the first African American to secure a contract with Pensacola Naval Air Station for sanitation services.
Donald Reed Jr. said his father was a human calculator who could easily replicate anything he wanted and who learned all he knew from the most important entrepreneur in his life, his mother.
Community members like Georgia Blackmon had a lot of love and respect for Reed Sr., who was the one who allowed Blackmon to rent the building of her now closed bookstore, The Gathering Awareness and Book Center, which was located in the historic Belmont-Devilliers neighborhood.
Blackmon said Reed was a man who was respected by the whole community because he always gave everything he had back to it, from his business, to hiring locals and giving out a helping hand. He trained and hired people with heartfelt enthusiasm, many of whom would not have had jobs if it wasn’t for his acts of kindness.
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“We were always told that if you take care of your community and your children, your community will take care of you,” Blackmon said.
Reed never boasted about what he did for others, his genuine nature and actions did all the speaking he needed.
Ellison Bennett, a local civil rights activist and a member of the National Movement for Civil and Human Rights, remembers the kindness and love he saw from Reed growing up in the Warrington area where Reed lived. Bennett was hired by Reed when he was just in seventh grade to work at Reed Vault Company.
Bennett said he never saw Reed become angry, that he was always fair and modest, and that his kindness extended to anyone he came in contact with. Bennett added he hopes the achievements, hard work and love Reed Sr. had for people brushes off into the others.
He described Reed as a man who came from humble beginnings, but who still inspires him and others to shoot for the stars, and to bring their community along with them.
“If Donald Reed Sr. can do it, I can do it,” Bennett said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Warrington-born Pensacola entrepreneur and mentor Donald Reed Sr. died
