Huey Wilson, a master jeweler-turned-Baton Rouge business icon and philanthropist who pioneered the catalog showroom industry in the late 1950s, died Friday. He was 80. Wilson grew up in the 1930s during tough economic times on his family's farm near Norco, and went on to found a jewelry business empire that at its peak made $500 million in sales in one year.
By the time Wilson sold the company to Service Merchandise for $175 million in the mid-1980s, H.J. Wilson Co. had 80 showrooms in 12 states. Wilson, who appeared on the cover of Business Report a record five times (including the first issue in 1982), credited his success to his willingness to put in 12 to 14 hours a day, including weekends and holidays, an emphasis on personal customer service and a natural talent for merchandising.
"You can't be good at everything," Wilson told Business Report in 2002, the year he was inducted into the Business Awards Hall of Fame. "But I was good at merchandising product. It can be jewelry, housewares, gifts, sporting goods. I knew what the consumer wanted: value, selection and some service to go along with it."
Wilson got back into the jewelry business in 1988, when he opened Wilson Fine Jewelers in the Mall at Cortana. The store closed in early 2001. He also co-founded Gulf Island fabrication, which today is the country's largest manufacturer of offshore oil production platforms for installation worldwide.
Wilson was also extremely active in philanthropy through the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, which he and his wife of 58 years founded to support human services, education, health care and prison ministry nonprofit organization in the Greater Baton Rouge area.
Greg Cotter, a close associate of the Wilsons since joining H.J. Wilson Co. in 1976, says that as a businessman, "Huey is an extraordinary entrepreneur who always identified with his customers better than any entrepreneur I've ever known."
Cotter, CEO and a trustee of the Wilsons' foundation, says Wilson “has always lived a humble and no-frills life. And I think his generosity is best expressed by his and his wife's building the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation as a legacy that will live forever, helping the people of Baton Rouge and the community to be a great place in which to live." --Steve Clark
Comments
Posted by Derek on February 11, 2008 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a great loss for the city of Baton Rouge,
I worked for Mr. Wilson for many years, what a
wonderful man to work for.
Derek Brownleader
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