Longtime economic developer, former CDF leader Harry Martin dies
Jan. 1—TUPELO — Harry A. Martin, the longtime head of the Community Development Foundation who helped lead economic development efforts for Tupelo and Lee County, died Friday night.
The CDF got its start in 1948 with Martin behind the scenes. He was named its chief executive eight years later and spent the next 44 years steering the community to great economic heights. He retired in 2000 and was named president emeritus.
One of the people who knew him well was Julia Houston, who worked with Martin at his office the past couple of years. He was a broker along with his daughter, Janet, at Martin Select Properties.
"I'm helping finish up what he started, and I'm in his office seeing a lot of alligators," she said. "Some people saw him as being tough, but he was really kind and generous and loved to laugh."
Martin kept alligators in his office to remind himself of keeping grounded. He once told the Daily Journal that every day he faced competition from every other economic development organization in the country and abroad. They would have loved to have made him gator bait, he said.
"There's always alligators out there, you know. If you don't watch out, they'll always try to get you," he said.
Martin was born in Quitman in Clarke County in 1925 and got his agricultural administration degree from what was then Mississippi State College. He became familiar with Tupelo when he was a student there. In 1947, he was sent to Tupelo to write a report about economic development.
He never planned to live and work in Tupelo, but a year later he was hired as an assistant county agent for the Extension Service.
It was then that he met figures like "Red" Pernell, Pat Dougherty and George McLean. They had developed what would be known as the Tupelo Plan.
Post-World War II Tupelo was in need of an economic revival, and it came in the form of the dairy industry. Gale Carr helped establish the Artificial Insemination Association, which helped the region become one of the nation's top dairy-producing centers.
The development of Rural Community Development Councils was initiated by the Tupelo Plan, spreading across the region to help with community and economic development.
Under Martin's watch Tupelo became the financial, retail and medical hub of Northeast Mississippi, a role it has maintained. Martin said the willingness of the people of the region to look not only inside but outside the region for help was one of the most important parts of growing the economy.
His book, "Harry Martin & The Community Development Foundation" is a look back at his work at the CDF. He said said that economic development has evolved over the years, but the basics of success remain the same: convincing business and industry that Northeast Mississippi is the place they need to be."
Martin recruited what was then Day Brite Lighting to Tupelo in 1948, a significant feat since it was the first major manufacturer to locate in Lee County after World War II. Day-Brite also was on the leading edge of the post-war industrial boom in Northeast Mississippi.
In those early days, Martin said CDF was still searching for a definite mission. The organization was caught between established farm and business interests, who were afraid further industrialization would hurt them by siphoning off cheap labor, and more progressive interests encouraging new industry and, by extension, a higher standard of living.
"We had to get that settled for once and for all. We had to be aggressive and very progressive, or we would just drift, and that's what most communities choose to do, just drift with the brush," he said. "We were able to get our direction, and define our mission."
Admiration and respect
The CDF's board of directors and staff said it offered its "heartfelt condolences on the passing of Harry A. Martin, President Emeritus of the Community Development Foundation, to his daughter, Janet and his family.
"Mr. Martin served as President and Secretary of the Community Development Foundation for 43 years, beginning in the 1950s. He guided the Tupelo/Lee County community through five decades of record development. His scorecard for job creation and capital development goes unmatched in economic development. He was and innovator and a pioneer in his field. Other communities from around the country came to see Tupelo as 'the community that could.' They were able to apply what they learned from Mr. Martin and improve and grow their communities."
CDF Chairman Kim Caron said, "My thoughts first went to Mr. Martin's faithfulness to his family, to his church family, and then to our wider community. His leadership of the Community Development Foundation was instrumental in providing a sound economic base not only for our community but for my family as well. So many families and people were positively impacted by Mr. Martin's lifelong work. My thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and their entire family."
Jack Reed Jr., chairman and president of Reed's department store and a longtime civic and community leader himself, said, Martin "was a real pioneer in economic development, not only in Mississippi, but in rural America.
"He was instrumental in executing Daily Journal publisher George McLean's vision, that community development proceeds economic development. The importance of his decision to put industrial parks throughout Lee county is still bearing fruit today."
In fact, one of the five industrial parks is name after him: the Harry A. Martin Industrial North Lee Industrial Park.
