Person Page 998

Robert Hugh Daniel^1,2,3,4

Facts and Notes

• Anecdote: The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1976.
  
  R. Hugh Daniel was the head of the Daniel International Corporation, which has offices in Europe and throughout the United States.
  
  A native of Anderson, South Carolina, Mr. Daniel was born in 1906 and was graduated from the Citadel with a B.A. degree in 1929. In 1934 he and his brother Charles moved to Birmingham and established the Daniel Corporation, which ranks today as one of the largest construction operations in the world. [Note: According to his son, only Robert Hugh Daniel moved to Birmingham in 1934; his brother Charles remained in Greenville SC to run the South Carolina part of Daniel Construction.] As its chief executive officer and treasurer, Mr. Daniel presided over a firm whose employees number more than 40,000 and whose revenues for the 1975 fiscal year exceeded 950 million dollars. The offices of the Daniel International Corporation dot the map from Kansas City to Dublin.
  
  In addition to directing the activities of this far-flung organization, Mr. Daniel served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Birmingham. He was also a member of the board of Central Banchares, Inc., its holding company. Since its establishment in 1964, Central Bank has pioneered in developing statewide operations and introduced innovation that made banking more convenient for its customers. With Mr. Daniel at the helm, it also grew during its short life into one of the most important banks in the states.
  
  Despite the press of his business obligations, Mr. Daniel found time to work for a variety of civic and community organizations as well. He served as a trustee of the Birmingham Symphony Association and as a member of the advisory board of the Birmingham Salvation Army. For two terms he was the president of the Alabama chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. And from 1954 to 1955 he served as the appeals chairman of the Jefferson County United Appeal.
  
  At the time of his induction into the Academy he was a director of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Baptist Hospitals Foundation. He was also a member of the boards of trustees of the Daniel Foundation, the Southern Research Institute, and Birmingham Southern College. Other businesses on whose boards of directors he sits are the Alabama Gas Company, the Delwood Furniture Company, and the Florida National Banks of Florida, Inc. The awards he received include two honorary degrees--a doctor of science, which his alma mater gave him in 1957, and another, which Piedmont College gave him in 1965.
  
  For many years Mr. Daniel was active in the work of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, and the Canterbury Methodist Church. He was also a member of the Birmingham Country Club, the Mountain Brook Club, the Relay House, and the Chi Psi fraternity.
  
  The following is from The Citadel newsletter.
  
  In 1972 the library [at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina] was re-dedicated as The Daniel Library in honor of two brothers, Charles E. Daniel (1895-1964) and Robert Hugh Daniel (1906-1983) whose enormous generosity to The Citadel provided the funds for the creation of The Citadel's Development Foundation. Then in 2006 Citadel President Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa, realizing that the library was due for a technology and infrastructure update, approached Bill and Lindra Daniel of the Daniel Foundation of Alabama for support of a renovation project. The Daniels visited and then gave the college $1.5 million.^1,5,6
• Birth: 1 September 1906; Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina, USABGO^1,5,7,2,3,4
• Residence: 1910; Ward 2, Anderson County, South Carolina, USABG; Age: 3; Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head of House: Son²
• Education: 1929; The Citadel, Charleston County, South Carolina, USABG; BA Degree¹
• Residence: 1935; Joseph, Walker County, Alabama, USABG³
• Marriage: December 1936; Martha Stone Cobb; Lamar County, Alabama, USABGO^1,8
• Residence: 1 April 1940; Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, USABGO; Age: 33; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Head³
• Death: 28 October 1983; Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, USABGO^5,7,4

Citations

1. [S328] Alabama Academy of Honor, Alabama Academy of Honor Biographical Sketch for R. Hugh Daniel, Url: http://www.archives.state.al.us/famous/academy/h_daniel.html
2. [S393] Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1910USCenIndex&h=26372338&indiv=try, Year: 1910; Census Place: Anderson Ward 2, Anderson, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1448; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 1375461, Record for J F Daniels
3. [S373] Ancestry.com, 1940 United States Federal Census, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1940usfedcen&h=65406950&indiv=try, Year: 1940; Census Place: Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama; Roll: T627_94; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 68-124, Record for Robt H Daniel
4. [S404] Ancestry.com, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=ssdi&h=13989557&indiv=try, Number: 418-09-5942; Issue State: Alabama; Issue Date: Before 1951, Record for Robert Daniel
5. [S330] The Citadel, The Citadel Newsroom, Location: Charleston, South Carolina, Url: http://www.citadel.edu/root/library_renovation
6. [S340] William Daniel, Ancestry Chart, Recipient: Robert Reyes, Address: Birmingham, AL, Author E-mail: email address
7. [S332] U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs, BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File, Record Info: Daniel, Robert
8. [S333] Ancestry.com, Alabama Marriage Collection, 1869-1969, Record Type: Marriage Record, Spouses' Names: Robert H Daniel, Manuscript Info: online database