Hundreds mourn Business Icon Jesse Hill, Jr.
From The Atlanta Voice
ATLANTA, GA — Hundreds of business, civic and religious leaders – including former mayors Shirley Franklin and Andrew Young – packed Big Bethel AME Church recently to pay final tribute to Atlanta business icon Jesse Hill Jr., a civil rights activist and longtime businessman who died of undetermined causes Dec. 17. Hill was 86.
Hill was remembered as an assuming yet high-energy businessman who used his stature as a civic leader to support the civil rights movement, advance community causes and inspire a new generation of Black entrepreneurs.
In his eulogy of Hill, former mayor Young told mourners that Hill was like an “energizer bunny” who could juggle several initiatives and causes at the same time because his center – his family life – was at peace.
“He was a star circling around many suns.
He was the Energizer bunny. And he never stayed any place long,” Young said. “That perpetual energy is what gave us Jesse Hill’s Atlanta.”
