We salute Dr. A.G. Gaston:

Named “Entrepreneur of the Century” by Black Enterprise magazine, Arthur George Gaston was born on, as he says in his autobiography, July 4th, 1892 in Demopolis, Alabama: “I was born in that cabin. On the Fourth of July, 1892. I always liked that birthday.” In 1900 Gaston’s mother, Rosie, moved to Birmingham to work as a cook and brought her son with her. It was during this time that Gaston attended the Tuggle Institute, founded by Carrie Tuggle, and after finishing 10th grade at the Institute he began selling subscriptions to the Birmingham Reporter. Unwilling to accept the limitations imposed on him by his brief education, Gaston sought other opportunities to better himself, joining the army in 1910 and serving until 1918, when he returned to Birmingham and worked for TCI and sold box lunches to his fellow laborers. It was in 1923 that Gaston hit upon the idea for a major business that would serve a community demand: an African-American burial society. What started out as “Brother Gaston’s Burial Society” was later known as the Booker T. Washington Burial Society and provided a financial base for many of Gaston’s later enterprises are now landmarks of Birmingham business history, such as the A.G. Gaston Motel, the Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association, and the A.G. Gaston Home for Senior Citizens. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Gaston notes in his autobiography that “what I have done, anyone can do, provided he has the will to achieve, has a clear-cut concept of what he wants to do, and is able to subject himself to the rigid discipline that will lead ultimately to the realization of his objectives.” A member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame and the Alabama Academy of Honor, Gaston died on January 19th, 1996, in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 103.