In Memoriam 2018: Business

Betty Lott

Saleswoman

In the 55 years she spent in retail sales, Betty Jean Harris Lott outlasted co-workers, managers and three of the department stores from which she collected name tags. She started at the downtown Caster-Knott on Church Street in 1958, moved with the store to Green Hills, stayed through the takeover by Proffitt’s, then Hecht’s and finally Macy’s in 2006, remaining there until her retirement. As remarkable — and well-known — as her professional longevity was the fact that she spent every day in high heels.

“My talent has always been in my feet!” Lott told the Scene in a 2012 interview, standing regally atop a 3-inch heel on the floor she long ruled in the children’s department. Lott was instantly recognized by the classic look she maintained daily into her 90s — raven hair, arched brows, porcelain skin, red lips and polished nails. She was beloved by loyal customers for her sales style, which eschewed pushiness for watchful attentiveness, impeccable manners and a crackerjack memory.

“I remember everybody and what they bought the last time they were in,” Lott said. It was a gift that earned her numerous “top seller” nods. “They followed me here to Green Hills, and now I have people that I dressed when they were children come in with their children. If I’m not here, they leave me a note. People are surprised when I’m not here, they must think I live here!” Kay West

Margaret Ellis

Jewelry maker and businesswoman

Margaret Ellis walked through life with her eyes, mind, heart and arms wide open, her deliberate response to being raised in small, small-minded towns in the rural South. She was a beautiful woman who, through the eponymous business she founded in 1983, created strikingly beautiful jewelry. More than anything, says Fred Ellis, her husband of 37 years, “Margaret was the bravest person I knew.”

She came to Nashville in 1965 with her first husband, taking a job with Metro Nashville Public Schools. When that marriage crumbled, she found solace and inspiration amid fellow convention-defying creatives, particularly identifying with Nashville’s LGBT community. Ellis learned to make jewelry because she wanted something beautiful to wear herself, then shed the teaching job that was stifling her to start her eponymous business. “She would go to New York, sleep on a friend’s floor, pull her sample case along the sidewalks, store to store, being rejected again and again,” says Fred. “She just never gave up. Her spirit would not be crushed.”

Ellis was honored by Nashville’s Human Rights Campaign with the Equality Award in 2013, the same year she sold her business (which continues under the name ME). In 2015, Margaret and Fred left the home where they had wined and dined legions of friends over three decades, and with beloved dog Pinky, moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Ellis responded to her cancer diagnosis as she had lived her life: optimistically, on her own terms and with unwavering courage, and she shared her photography and stories on her blog, Around the House. Never one to shy away from offering advice, she wrote this in 2017: “Look … I wish I had had a crystal ball.  If I had, we would have been here much, much sooner. One thing I have done a few times in my life is to wait too long to make needed changes … I would encourage anyone who feels like they want to do a new thing to do it. Life is short. Make yourself happy.” Kay West

Albert Menefee III

Philanthropist, conservationist, sportsman and businessman

Albert Menefee was most at home on his farm. An avid equestrian and foxhunter, much of his generous community involvement was driven by his passion for horses and wildlife conservation.

 The most indelible mark he left on Nashville was undoubtedly his involvement with the Iroquois Steeplechase, which over the past three decades has raised more than $10 million for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Menefee was a longtime board member with the Volunteer State Horsemen’s Foundation, the race’s charitable arm, eventually serving as secretary and treasurer before taking over as president in 2008. He also served on the board of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, where he was honored for his work restoring native habitat in Giles County.

His philanthropic accomplishments are too numerous to list, but he devoted time and resources to the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Centerstone Military Services, Williamson Medical Center, the Boys and Girls Club, the Boy Scouts of America, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, and Friends of Franklin Parks, among many others. He was a generous soul with an unparalleled work ethic, often shying away from the limelight to focus on the task at hand. He believed in working hard and helping others, leaving behind a void that it will take many to fill. Nancy Floyd

Sam Moore

CEO and publisher

Born in Beirut, Sam Moore moved to America in the 1950s planning to attend college, selling Bibles door to door to help pay his tuition. He launched National Book Publishers in Nashville in 1958 and three years later set up Royal Publishing with help from some of the city’s power elite. New Jersey-based Thomas Nelson and Sons approached Moore about buying Royal, but the entrepreneur turned the tables and in 1969 bought Thomas Nelson, dropping the “and Sons” and moving its operations to Nashville. The company prospered for most of the next two decades, spurred in part by Moore’s decision to invest $4.5 million in the New King James Version translation of the Bible, which used 130 commissioned Bible scholars and was first published in 1983. 

“Sam was a unique man who embraced God’s plan for his life every day with courage and enthusiasm,” Mark Schoenwald, who was named president and CEO of Thomas Nelson in 2011, told the Nashville Post following Moore’s death in June. “Sam impacted and changed the lives of countless people with his time, effort and resources. We are grateful for his vision and dedication to building our company, and appreciated his extended friendship after his retirement.” Geert De Lombaerde

Dan Hogan

COO, bank executive and father

Longtime regional bank executive Dan Hogan was a top executive at downtown-based CapStar Bank for the past six years. He came aboard as COO after consulting on the bank’s acquisition of American Security Bank & Trust and since then had overseen several commercial lending initiatives.

Married to Phyllis Garrison Hogan for 32 years, Hogan started his banking career at the former National Commerce Financial Corp. as a management trainee and, over the course of 19 years, rose to regional president. Later he was regional president of Fifth Third Bank for seven years before joining CapStar. He was also a member of the boards of Habitat for Humanity, the Nashville Downtown Partnership and the Nashville Sports Council, and was honored as the Father of the Year by the American Diabetes Association in 2007. He served on the executive board of the Nashville Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and the boards of the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership 2020 and the Nashville Symphony Association.

“Dan brought his business acumen to the board table,” Alan Valentine, president and CEO of the Symphony Association, told the Nashville Post in November. “He was always looking at the big opportunities, asking the right questions and challenging us to be even better. He was a great friend to the orchestra and someone that we all thought very highly of. He was a great friend.” Geert De Lombaerde

John Fleming

Hotel manager

Hospitality industry vet John Fleming joined the Renaissance Nashville Hotel in 1993 and had worked for the hotel brand since 1974. He oversaw a recently completed major overhaul of the hotel building’s interior spaces and exterior, with the latter effort involving a paint job that has since drawn strong praise.

At the time of Fleming’s death in March, Sherry Franklin, Renaissance Nashville director of hotel sales, called Fleming a “true dean of downtown hotel general managers.” He was beloved by his staff for his approachable management style and personal touch.

“We are heartbroken at the news,” said Franklin. “Mr. Fleming was an incredible leader and a true gentleman.” William Williams