We build. (In the years after Otelia’s death, he married Sylvia Anderson, then the president of AT&T Georgia.) He also dismissed Alston’s amended complaint that sought a share of Herman Russell’s estate. “Why now?” Joyce asked. Herman Russell also was a key business leader who supported Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Russell was mortified. He founded H. J. Russell & Company, the largest minority-owned real estate and construction business in the United States. “I would hope that this situation would not tarnish the years of service and affection H.J. “What would that say about his legacy?” Joyce says. In 1999, she and her husband divorced. It helped that she was taller than her brothers. Frankel also saw details of Russell’s life insurance policies, as well as the details of trusts he established in 1993 and in 2013. For her attorneys, the first priority was examining the plausibility of Joyce’s claim. Russell later married Sylvia Anderson, the president of AT&T. The Russell home on Shorter Terrace became a retreat for the leaders of the movement; Young and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would occasionally stop by for a swim in Russell’s pool. But Craig Frankel, Alston’s attorney, said the legal battle isn’t over yet, and that his client would take her case to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Within a month, he was subcontracting—hiring a friend to also shine shoes, and taking a nickel off the top, half the amount Russell charged his customers. “It had to be crazy for them,” Joyce says. It was almost like, ‘You’re hurting Dad, you’re not hurting me. For us to have a meeting, and then have a lawsuit filed, is unfortunate.”. “I thought, ‘Am I entitled to something?’” she recalls. “She’s a professional,” Donata said. It never came. “We were open to getting to know her,” Michael Russell said. Joyce is also motivated in part by the thought of her mother, who had never sought any money from Russell. On November 15, 2014, Herman Russell had died. Milton Murray Greenbaum died February 2, 2021. And the Russells—Donata, Jerome, and Michael—were, indisputably. Mary L. Craig Russell Mary L. Craig Russell, 82, passed away Friday March 8, 2019 at a Houlton long term care facility. In 1993, he transferred $5 million in assets—including many real estate properties—to trusts in his children’s names. Although she dismissed the case that June, she refiled the court case on Aug. 8, 2017. Will the pandemic ruin MARTA’s plans for its biggest expansion in decades? At 11, he joined his father on job sites, where Rogers Russell was a master plasterer. Frankel said he doesn’t know if Herman Russell knew she existed. There’s education, sitting on the board.” (Jerome Russell is president and executive director of the Herman J. Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which in 2016 reported $4.9 million in net assets.). Sources. Russell’s three children were very much alive. Russell was a 1991 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, and received the title Georgia Trustee from the Georgia Historical Society in 2013. When her friends suggested that Herman’s stammer should rule him out as a husband, Otelia was undeterred. We must have sat in that bar for two hours. (The stand was on city-owned land, and when the racist aldermen laughed the young man with the speech impediment out of City Hall after he asked permission to do business on the parcel, Russell opened the stand anyway.) About five years ago, Veray Darby fell ill—so ill she was in intensive care. Donata and her brothers wonder why Joycelyn did not reach out to their father before he died at the age of 83. “My father was a public person,” Donata said. Dunaway cited many arguments in making his ruling, including that Georgia law prohibits a claim such as hers, and that the statute of limitations had run out. My faith has grown so much. Like Herman, Otelia was one of eight children. “I just missed him.” The questions she had imagined for so many years asking him—simple things such as his favorite food, or if he got into trouble as a kid—she could never ask. “They are positioning her to be treated like a fourth child – that she should get an equal share– 25 percent,” Michael said. Who are you as a human being?’ And probably also, ‘Why?’ No matter what age you are—you could be 10, you could be 80—that information still stings.”. Richard knew why his wife had made this trip. Zion Cemetery with Bro. “‘Who are you? H.J. He contributed toward a fund that ensured that a trove of King’s private papers would stay in Atlanta and not be auctioned off. “This is a new area of law and [Judge Dunaway] is going to let the appellate courts decide. Technically speaking, he sold these assets, but the income generated by them—such as rent in Section 8 housing—often exceeded the amount the children needed to pay their father back, Frankel explained. She was born April 23, 1936, in Houlton, the daughter of William and Lillian (Kiley) Scott. He grew wealthy in ways he likely had never dreamed. Joyce had imagined being introduced to the extended family, to assimilating, to having a seat at the table, figuratively and otherwise. And they know they may never get to the bottom of everything that happened in their father’s life 60 years ago. It’s like I told my son, I feel like we—me and the Russells—are like the clean-ups; we’re just cleaning up some mess that our parents made. Rogers Russell was correct, but it’s doubtful that even he would have imagined how far his youngest child would go. Not long after, Veray moved to Washington, D.C., where her sisters lived and where she reconnected with Richard Darby, whom she married after Joyce was born in December 1958. had in Atlanta and his reputation in the community,” Donata said. “What does it say about him if he knew all these years that I existed?”, Young, who’s not followed the case closely, says it is incomprehensible that Russell would knowingly turn his back on his own child. He worked the oilfields of North America, South America, and the Gulf of Mexico for almost 40 years. This was in Atlanta, where Veray had grown up, attending the Allen Temple A.M.E. Church in Summerhill. The offer was $450,000, to be paid over two years, as well as her choice between a 10 percent interest in the Lake Burton vacation home or $500,000 paid over 10 years into a trust for her and her “lineal descendants,” with Joyce naming the trustee and the trustee paying the taxes. Russell did die within that seven-year period and effectively $28 million passed to his three known children at no tax.”. She does remember that before the two parted ways, Russell gave her a $50 bill. Like Herman, Otelia was one of eight children. But, as Frankel explains it, the Russells wanted to keep her existence private. He also started a development company and a concessions firm. Beyond naming his executors, Russell did just two things in his will. As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 28, 2018. Russell’s estate. In exchange, the children issued promissory notes that required no payment until 2020. Richard Darby eventually proposed to Veray, marrying her in 1959, and the young couple settled down in Washington before ultimately moving to the Bronx. What was she hoping for? The letter said Alston was their father’s daughter and their half-sister. Learn how your comment data is processed. Joyce began to take offense. Alston claims that if Mr. Russell was aware of her existence, he would have provided equally for her along with his other children.”. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. “Then who the hell is Herman Russell?”, By any measure, the life of Herman J. Russell was astounding. At 16, with money he’d saved from the shoeshine stand and from helping his father, Herman paid $125 in cash for a vacant lot in Summerhill. WXIA 11 NBC Atlanta Mary grew up in Houlton and attended Houlton schools. “I had not paid attention to important details,” Russell wrote. Richard doted on his only daughter, and encouraged his sons to keep a close eye on any boy who dared to date Joyce. She settled finally on something brief—her name, her mother’s maiden name (Campbell), her aunts’ names, where the Campbell girls had grown up in Summerhill. She didn’t discuss it further with her mother. As Frankel explained in court, Russell left $10 million to his second wife. She never even told the man she’d marry. The question may seem straightforward, but as Joyce would find, nothing complicates family matters more than money. John Derek was born on August 12, 1926 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA as Derek Delevan Harris. What’s your favorite color? Among the transfers of assets that occurred while Russell was alive, Frankel explained in court, were the following: In court the same day, Luke Lantta, an attorney representing the Russell siblings, said Frankel made it sound like the assets were handed over freely as if they were a child’s allowance. By Maria Saporta They do not know whether their father even knew of her existence, and they certainly did not know she was their kin until her lawyers sent a letter in August 2015. “We were all surprised when she decided to pursue the lawsuit.”, “I didn’t see it coming,” Jerome, 56, said. In 1983, when she was 24 and living in Washington, D.C., Joycelyn Darby Alston got a phone call from her mother, Veray, who said she’d be coming to town for a visit. He previously served as governor of the state from 1948 to 1955, taking over after the death of his father Eugene Talmadge, … But as the conversations—between the family members, as well as between the lawyers—turned to money, the good feelings were dissipating. But that was just the beginning of a journey the three children have traveled over the past three years. “Just be fair, that’s all I’m saying,” Joyce says, explaining her expectations. But two justices dissented, with one, the late Harris Hines, calling the majority ruling a “giant step backwards in the development of the law in regard to the rights of biological children born without the benefit of marriage.”. “We met with her. Veray, a year older than Herman, was raised just a few blocks from the Rogers Russell house on Martin Street. “It was almost like it was so hard for him to talk sometimes that you wanted to help him talk. “Give my mama some back child support—that’s my attitude,” Joyce says. We Own. But her lawyers are arguing that she is entitled to a fair share of H.J. Russell & … With Antonio now a young man, she felt it was important for him to know, too. Georgia law is unclear, Frankel says. As part of the confidential negotiations, Frankel got to review Herman Russell’s Form 706, an IRS filing that outlined the value of his estate. “He would never have neglected a child of his,” Young says. In 1956, after a three-year courtship, Herman married Otelia Hackney, who’d grown up in Taliaferro County, midway between Atlanta and Augusta. I was was perturbed with my employer.,we were constructioning a low-income project on Nassau Street. The stranger laid out the paperwork to prove his case. Our public access archive now sustains 510,000+ tributes to American Gold Star Veterans.Featuring 89,000+ vivid images and 23,000+ USA locations. … For Joyce, the negotiations over the DNA test—who would pay, that the results must remain confidential, that her mother would also have to submit a sample—left her feeling marginalized, further distanced from the siblings she had yet to meet. Select this result to view Russell A Hermann's phone number, address, and … In 1959, the same year as his mother’s death, Herman and Otelia Russell welcomed their first child, Donata. Russell was a tireless networker and political kingmaker, helping persuade Young to run for Congress in 1970. “Herman integrated my life in Atlanta,” Young says. Buffington defined his children in the will very specifically—as “only the lawful blood descendants.” A woman named Regina Todd sued in probate court, arguing she deserved a portion of Buffington’s estate. As a clearer picture of her birth father’s fortune began to emerge, it put into context the settlement offer she got from the Russells in the first days of 2017. Yeah. “In a case like this, most of the time, the critical issue is whether or not there is paternity,” says Craig Frankel, Joyce’s attorney. Todd claimed to be Buffington’s biological daughter, the child of an extramarital affair. “Our conversations were always cordial,” Donata said. In fact, he had given it his blessing. ), Luke Lantta, attorney for the Russell estate, said, “We are pleased that the court reached what we think is the right decision and one that allows everyone to move forward.”. He later added, “We are not challenging the fact that she was our father’s child.”. Until then, Joyce had intentionally not researched much about the life of her biological father. “I’m disappointed but not surprised that the judge took the safe way out,” Frankel said. U.S. Rep. John Lewis [D-Ga.] said, “Herman J. Russell was one of the founding fathers of the new Atlanta. She sent a second letter. The Georgia Supreme Court has weighed in—at least partially. Join Facebook to connect with Russell Hermann and others you may know. Nine months after Atlanta business icon Herman J. Russell died in November 2014, his three children received a letter from lawyers representing Joycelyn Alston of New York. The second best result is Russell A Hermann age 50s in Olympia, WA. If anything, it reminds us that we are all human. When money was tight, Richard took on weekend work selling door-to-door. He would have celebrated his 91st birthday February 10. You either were family, or you weren’t. The following narrative emerged: In early 1958, Herman’s mother and Veray’s aunt were each ill and being treated at Grady Hospital. She married in 1984, taking her husband’s name—Alston. In the letter, Joyce remembers writing, “If you want to reach out to me, here’s my number.” She addressed the letter to the H.J. Even though Russell himself was gone, perhaps she could come to know him a bit through them. Although she visited Atlanta often in the ensuing years, Veray never again called the city home. Two sisters, born just months apart almost 60 years earlier, were face to face for the first time. Well received and highly scored by The Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator and The Rhone Report for the past several years, Herman Story Wines (the winery is named after Russell's grandfather) are hard to come by...most bottles are quickly gobbled up by eager wine club members.And currently there's a waiting list for the club. That afternoon, Donata, as co-executor of her father’s estate, sued Joyce in Fulton County Probate Court. Rogers Russell’s thrift was borne out by his estate, which contained $12,000 in savings, an astounding amount then for a blue-collar worker with eight children. “Just to get to know who [Russell] was,” she says. Rush Limbaugh spoke about the afterlife a lot in his finals days, saying that ‘he knew he was going to heaven’ according to his wife Kathryn in a conversation with Todd Herman, who spoke of how she and her late husband prepared for his death. There was something she needed to tell her daughter, and it was best done in person. No, her mother said. He offered her a ride home. “We don’t wish any ill will towards Joycelyn,” Michael said. After Atlanta icon Herman Russell died, DNA proved Joycelyn Alston is a... 2020 Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse, DINES: A Taste of the City’s Best Restaurants, An excerpt from C.T. The matter that had been strictly hush-hush had become public record. And you learn as you mature.”. He established his own foundation. “She was so overjoyed. They had no way of knowing me personally. If I’m going to judge somebody, then something is wrong with me.”. But a vast catalog of holdings bypasses probate. What do you do? (Jerome was out of town.). Likewise, a quarter of her son’s medical history was a blank slate. So why are you doing this to him?’” Her mother had wept. The willingness to work, to be responsible for yourself as long as your body and mind were sound enough, was an important element of self-respect for black people.”. They interviewed her, her mother, and other relatives. These were her siblings. In fact, on the day that her mother came to visit, Joyce was living with one of her aunts and working at a department store. Herman J. Russell 1931(?) “She believes she’s entitled to be treated as a biological child – either through pre-death estate planning or post-death estate planning,” he added. “You wonder who this person is. Later, Joyce called her mother to tell her how it went. At home, when their parents were at work—Veray as a schoolteacher, Richard as a youth counselor—Joyce would also cook for the boys. Herman J. Russell was the founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of H. J. Russell and Company and Concessions International, as well as a nationally recognized entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Atlanta civic leader. When I was hired by Cushman & Wakefield of Georgia in 1989, my very first cold-call was to Herman J. Russell, chairman and CEO of H.J. When Herman was 14, his father bought him his own set of tools, envisioning his son would follow in his footsteps. With help from friends, and working on it in his spare time from school, Russell built a duplex on the parcel, using his savings to pay for the raw material. His will provided for only some of his children, since he’d written it in 1920, before his younger children, including Herman, were born. “In Probate Court, the will states: ‘For the purposes of this will, my descendants are the three children,” Frankel said. Dunaway ruled that because Alston is neither a “trustee nor a beneficiary,” she is not entitled to ask that the trusts that Herman Russell set up be terminated. “She could have found him.”. We’re left to do it.”, POSTSCRIPTOn January 9, a week after this story had gone to press for our February 2019 issue, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Eric Dunaway dismissed Joycelyn Alston’s verified petition seeking heirship. Buffington had owned a large farm and had also built up a highway construction company. Russell is survived by his wife, Sylvia, sons H. Jerome and Michael Russell, daughter Donata Russell Major, two stepsons and eight grandchildren. and her mother.”, Later Donata added, “It’s unfortunate this wasn’t addressed while he still alive. Your source for breaking news, news about New York, sports, business, entertainment, opinion, real estate, culture, fashion, and more. This experience will enrich you. “I have my own emotions about this, but I’m sure they have theirs, too. During visits to Atlanta, she recalls, she would occasionally see Russell at church, but the two didn’t talk. They agreed to meet at a bus stop. After Veray Darby told Joyce about her biological father, Joyce spoke with no one about it, except for a cousin. For one of Atlanta’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Herman Russell kept his will short—just seven pages. What most people thought was a negative he turned into a positive.”. “At this point in my life, I understand things happen. Later, Russell remarried Sylvia, then President of AT&T Georgia. Assuming the parties can’t come to a settlement, Frankel believes the court’s ultimate decision will come to be known as the “Russell Doctrine”—whether an unknown heir is entitled to a portion of their deceased parent’s nonprobate estate. When Joyce first saw her mother and the look on her face, she worried something had happened to her father. From his purchase of a small parcel of land at age 16 in 1946 to an entrepreneurial legacy starting in construction; Herman J. Russell is a business entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist focused on his 50th anniversary motto of “strengthening America’s foundation”. At 12, he opened a shoeshine stand across the street from his childhood home at 776 Martin Street in Summerhill. All three of the Russell children have told their own children about Joycelyn Alston, and everyone has accepted the situation. Russell & Co., and he was involved in the building of many of Atlanta’s most iconic buildings. As the only daughter in the Darby household, Joyce had held her own. Born into poverty, the youngest of eight children, he was an entrepreneurial prodigy. “We all are human. “I had been almost totally aligned with the civil rights movement, and so all that the white community saw of me were stories in the papers from Birmingham, Selma, or someplace. “She cried,” Joyce says. Military graveside services for Herman Ray Trussell, 77, of Hall Summit, LA were held at 11:00 A.M., Thursday, November 12, 2020 at Mt. By this point, Joyce’s curiosity was more than just academic; half her medical history, she realized, was unknown. If Russell died in the interim, the notes would be forgiven. These items—called nonprobate assets—include life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts, jointly-held real estate. Photo - Herman Russell, President Bill Clinton and Ann Jackson; Photo - Herman Russell and Mayor Willie Herenton, 1990-1992; Photo - Herman Russell, Otelia Russell and Donata Russell, 1986; Photo - Herman Russell holding his son Herman Russell Jr., 1959; Photo - Herman Russell with Herman Russell Jr. and Donata Russell She just kept saying, ‘Thank you, Lord Jesus.’”. “I have lived long enough to know that there are not answers to everything in life,” Donata said. To say the least, the three children – Donata Russell Ross, Jerome Russell and Michael Russell – were caught by surprise. “I can’t imagine where that came from, because all we did was work, from can’t-see-in-the-morning until can’t-see-at-night, as the saying goes. It certainly hasn’t changed how I feel about him as my father. Russell's autobiography Building Atlanta was published in April 2014, shortly before his death. In the 1960s, Russell had used his growing fortune to help fund the civil rights movement, bailing protesters out of jail. A fundamental question now was whether Joyce Alston, a biological child, was entitled to a share of these assets. And like Herman, she was also strong-willed. Russell himself became an Atlanta icon. You move on, and you grow. The “residue and remainder” of his estate that he cited in his will included a Midtown condominium, a vacation home on Lake Burton, as well as personal property. At the hospital, she ran into Herman, a neighbor and friend she’d known since childhood. She didn’t seek child support from Russell. On its way to becoming the largest Minority Business Enterprise real estate firm in the country, the Russell company amassed vast holdings, much of it Section 8 housing that the company would not only build but manage. He was an actor and director, known for The Ten Commandments (1956), Ghosts Can't Do It (1989) and Bolero (1984). We had a good time.” Joyce and Donata discussed their shared love of wine, and afterward, when Joyce went to walk back to her hotel, Donata insisted on giving her a ride. They shook hands and sat down. They had their son, Antonio, in 1986. All of these developments are in service to a fundamental human need—the need for connection, to know where you’re from. One of them was that if her mother survived, Joyce would try again to reach out to her biological father. In his will, he did not identify any child born out of wedlock. She wants what she believes is fair—and still hopes to get to know better the siblings with whom she was only starting to get acquainted. At some point after Joyce’s birth, Veray says, she wrote Russell a letter. One day, a year after the house was complete, a stranger approached Russell to inform him that the young man had accidentally built the house on his property, and not on Russell’s, which was actually next door. “Whether they would receive me or not, I didn’t know,” she says. Russell served as the first African American member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. At a loss, he suggested to the man that they simply switch lots. But now the identity that had defined Joyce’s life—as the only daughter of Veray and Richard Darby—was crumbling. Herman Russell – known city- , state- and nationwide for his formidable business knowledge and acumen – has received many plaudits since his passing on Nov. 15. Notwithstanding the transfers Russell made to his three children during his lifetime, which totaled at least $38 million and which were all perfectly allowable under the law, he did not die a pauper. “In any event,” Frankel told Judge Dunaway, “Mr. “You could not sit there and tell me that Dad is not my dad,” she recalls today, from the kitchen table in the same Bronx home where she grew up and where she now lives, once again, with her mother, who’s 89. The Campbell family and the Russell family also attended the same church, Allen Temple A.M.E. If Herman Russell felt any offense at his father’s oversight, he made no mention of it in his autobiography. The Russell children do not know what the next step will bring. “Is Dad sick?” she asked. In 1956, after a three-year courtship, Herman married Otelia Hackney, who’d grown up in Taliaferro County, midway between Atlanta and Augusta. Second, he gave “all of the residue and remainder of my estate” to a trust he’d established before his death. He helped bail out Grady Hospital. Soon after realizing she was pregnant, Veray went to inform Russell. “It’s time,” Veray replied. My classmate said being afraid was why no name or contact information was secured.Report, Your email address will not be published. (Read the entire 39-page ruling here. Nobody is immune from making mistakes. But in 2010, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled against Todd, pointing in part to Buffington’s use of the word “lawful” in his will. However, their suit against Joyce in probate court asserted that Herman Russell “was aware that he may have biological children” other than Donata, Jerome, and Michael, and that he “chose not to provide for those potential other children in his estate planning documents.” The suit went on to state that when he executed his final will, their father was “aware that Ms. Alston claimed to be his biological child, and he chose not to provide for her in his estate planning documents.”. She volunteered for pickup football games and played center on her high school basketball team. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Herman Eugene Talmadge was a Democratic American politician who served as a U.S. In other words, you don’t need to name someone to disinherit them. “She wants to be treated as a biological child of Herman Russell,” said Alston’s Atlanta attorney, Craig Frankel. “Honestly,” Antonio recalls now, running his hand up his forehead, “the first thing that stuck out to me was, that explains my hairline versus Granddad’s, because his hair was so beautiful. Reed said he learned of Russell’s death shortly after noon Saturday. She never mentioned it to Richard Darby, the man who raised her and whom she still saw as her father. In 2006, a Hall County native named John Buffington died at 64. Joycelyn … She was not sure what to say, and recalls discarding draft after draft. Herman J. Russell, born in the Jim Crow-era South, built one of the oldest and largest black-owned construction and real estate firms in the country. But for the Russells, winning in court could come with unintended consequences. Since 1961, Atlanta magazine, the city’s premier general interest publication, has served as the authority on Atlanta, providing its readers with a mix of long-form nonfiction, lively lifestyle coverage, in-depth service journalism, and literary essays, columns, and profiles. Johnny was born in Nacogdoches to Herman and Geraldine Russell on June 26, 1954. “I vowed that would never happen again.”. In the interview last September with the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the three Russell siblings said they simply didn’t know if their father knew about Joyce. Michael Russell, from left, Donata Russell Ross, and Jerome Russell (Photo by Byron Small of the Atlanta Business Chronicle). To Joyce, her parents’ life together had—up until that day in 1983 when her mother visited her—seemed as conventional as any other couple’s in their working-class neighborhood. Russell is related to Scott W Hermann and Shelley R Hermann as well as 2 additional people. In 1956, after a three-year courtship, Herman married Otelia Hackney, who’d grown up in Taliaferro County, midway between Atlanta and Augusta.