Honored, 'humbled': 6 leaders inducted into Birmingham Business Hall of Fame

Six business leaders from across the Birmingham area are now Hall of Famers.

The Kiwanis Club of Birmingham inducted the newest Birmingham Business Hall of Fame members at an event at The Fennec on Aug. 25. They are:

► Kirkwood R. Balton, Booker T. Washington Insurance

► Thomas E. Jernigan, Marathon Corporation

► Judy M. Merritt, Jefferson State Community College

► Claude B. Nielsen, Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED

► David W. Wood II, Wood Fruitticher Grocery Company

► John H. Wood, Wood Fruitticher Grocery Company

The event included a dinner for the honorees, their families, and members of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and their guests. There are now 131 members of the Hall of Fame.

“I think this is a really great opportunity for us to celebrate where we’ve come [from], look forward to where we can go, and really walk away with a lot of pride about who we are as a community and what has been accomplished,” said Kiwanis Club of Birmingham Executive Director Honora Gathings.

Balton, born June 9, 1935, in Birmingham, was a former chairman and CEO of Booker T. Washington Insurance Company and the founder of J&B Medical Supply. Balton earned his bachelor's degree at Miles College in 1957 and began working for A. G. Gaston two years later. He went on to earn a master's in business administration at Samford University in 1970 and rose within Gaston's business to manage WENN-FM and become chairman and CEO of Gaston's insurance company before he retired in 2001. He founded the J&B Medical Supply and later J&B Management and Electric Supply, both named for his wife, Juanita Balton.

In retirement, Balton remained active in Gaston's charitable efforts, including the A. G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club, as well as in the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham. He served on the boards of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Colonial Bank, Miles College, the Callahan Eye Foundation and the National Conference for Community and Justice. He died Feb. 10, 2009. He was survived by his wife and daughter, Adriene, and two siblings. The A. G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club's former South Park Unit was renamed the Kirkwood R. Balton Clubhouse in his memory in 2014.

Jernigan, born Aug. 3, 1928, in Atmore, was the founder and CEO of the Marathon Corporation. Jernigan grew up on a farm near Frisco City in Monroe County. He served in the U. S. Air Force for two years during World War II before moving to Birmingham and starting his career developing playground equipment. Jernigan founded several companies during his career, including Plantation Patterns, United Chair Company, Quick Marts and Winston Furniture.

Jernigan was one of the founding directors of the Central Bank and Trust Company (formerly Compass Bank now PNC) and a director of Superior Bank. Jernigan has been a generous supporter of higher education, creating endowments at Birmingham-Southern College, Samford University, UAB and the University of Alabama. He has also funded scholarships and medical research. Jernigan died of leukemia Jan. 4, 2008. He was survived by his wife, Donna, four children and five grandchildren.

Merritt, born in Jacksonville, was the only daughter of two longtime educators. She began attending the University of Alabama at age 16, later earning her master’s and doctoral degrees there. She began her career as a counselor of admissions at then-Jefferson State Junior College in 1965, the opening year of the college. She and her husband then moved to Miami, Fla., where she served as the vice president of student affairs at Florida International University. On Dec. 1, 1979, Merritt was appointed president of Jefferson State Community College. Her appointment by former Gov. Fob James marked the first time a woman had been named president of a two-year college in Alabama. She was later the first female corporate board member for Energen Corporation and the only female board member on the South Trust Board of Directors. She was also the first woman to chair the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce in 1993.

When Merritt began her tenure at Jefferson State Community College, it consisted of one campus located in the eastern area of Jefferson County. Through her vision and ability to form partnerships, today Jefferson State has campuses in four counties. She retired in 2014. Since Merritt’s death in 2014, the annual Judy M. Merritt 5K Memorial Race has helped to honor her legacy by providing scholarships for students in need.

Nielsen, an Evergreen native, earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Sewanee: The University of the South in 1973 and his master’s from the University of Virginia in 1975. Nielsen joined Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. in 1979 and held a variety of operational and managerial positions until 1991 when he was appointed CEO. He assumed the additional role of chairman in 2003. In 2016, he retired as CEO while continuing to serve as chairman.

Nielsen served as chairman of the American Beverage Association and The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. He also served on the Board of Governors of The Coca-Cola Bottlers' Association. He is a member of the Birmingham Rotary Club and has served on the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Nielsen was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2016. In addition, he and his wife, Kate, were recognized by the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2017 with the “Heart of an Eagle” award for their community service, and they were named Outstanding Civic Leaders by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2021.

David Wood II assumed the leadership of Wood Fruitticher, along with his brother, John, at a young age after the death of their father. At the time, the company made around $10 million in annual sales. They grew the company the next 38 years to $400 million in annual sales. Wood II is a graduate of Lead Birmingham and in the current class of Leadership Alabama. He has served the Birmingham Airport Authority, Boy Scouts of America and Food Bank of Central Alabama. Since retirement, he has flown more than 60 flights for the Veterans Airlift Command organization that flies wounded veterans to and from hospitals around the country for treatments they need.

John Wood, David’s brother, retired from Wood Fruitticher in 2017. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and has served in leadership positions in the Presbyterian Church of America. When he is not advising the fourth generation of ownership at Wood Fruitticher, he can be found spending time with the fifth generation, which consists of 19 grandchildren.

Since 1997, the Birmingham Business Hall of Fame Committee has selected business leaders who have shown strong leadership and made extraordinary contributions to the Greater Birmingham area. The Kiwanis Club of Birmingham was founded in 1917 and includes more than 560 businesses and nonprofit leaders.

“[Birmingham] is arguably the economic engine for the state of Alabama,” Gathings said. “So much incredible work has been done here. This is a community that is steeped with so much history. We really wanted to make sure that those whose backs we now stand on were being honored for their contributions. We hear these stories and it really shows us what a tight-knit community we are in, and how all of our actions have this ripple effect. We don’t realize how far our actions go in benefiting and making the lives of other people better.”