Entrepreneur, benefactor James Cantrell dies

James Cantrell, the founder of Action Buildings and longtime St. Jude Children’s Hospital benefactor who helped save Columbus’ historic Goetchius House, died Friday morning at Columbus Hospice after suffering a massive stroke. He was 81.

His funeral is set for 2 p.m. Monday at Solid Rock, 6959 Warm Springs Road, in Midland. Visitation will be Sunday night at McMullen Funeral Home, 3874 Gentian Blvd.

“He’s been like my mentor and my best friend,” said eldest son Mark Cantrell, the District 6 Muscogee school board representative. Continuing the family business the father started in 1980 now falls to three sons: Mark, 53, the chief executive officer; Spencer, 63, the president; and Mac, 45, the vice-president. A fourth brother, Rick, 58, is self-employed.

Cantrell was known not only for growing a successful business that began with a single carpenter building storage sheds on site in backyards too tight for delivering units already constructed, but for his willingness to help others. His fundraising for St. Jude, which began with donation cups and expanded to radiothons and the raffling of St. Jude “Dream Homes,” raised $12 million over the years, Mark Cantrell said.

His father also contributed 12 storage buildings to Habitat for Humanity homes, the son said.

He never retired, because he never wanted to: “Dad was a workaholic for sure. He enjoyed work. … Dad never truly retired from the business.”

He also was a Shriner and a 33rd degree Mason.

Born one of 10 children on July 22, 1934, he grew up poor in LaGrange, Ga., and married wife Jean when he was 16 and she was 17. They would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on April 8.

He joined the Army, served four years and later worked for Pearl Optical, based in Atlanta, which in 1964 offered him a management position in one of two cities named Columbus, one in Georgia and the other in Mississippi. He chose Georgia.

He invested in real estate, at one point owning six houses on Broadway. He was selling Superior Buildings when he started his own business.

Mark Cantrell said some of his father’s achievements never made the news. In the early 1980s, Georgia moved to turn the hospital in Warm Springs into a manufacturing facility for bottled water. James Cantrell enlisted the aid of a descendant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who frequented Warm Springs to treat his polio, and together they were able to save the hospital, Mark Cantrell said.

James Cantrell often made headlines for another reason: In 1976, he paid $975 for the purple Cadillac El Dorado convertible Elvis Presley bought new on Dec. 23, 1957.

The very next day, a collector offered Cantrell $10,000 for the car, but he declined to sell. The car today is on loan to Graceland, the Presley mansion and museum.

The purchase was just further evidence of his father’s business acumen, Mark Cantrell said: He knew a good investment when he saw one. He also wanted the car for his wife, a committed Elvis fan.

In 2012, he saved another piece of history, the 1839 Goetchius House, formerly a restaurant the owner put up for sale after losing the business’ alcohol license.

The building at 405 Broadway was in bad shape, but James and Mark Cantrell had employees who could do the repairs, and together with the purchase price invested $350,000 to restore the house.

In a 2011 newspaper interview for Father’s Day, Mark Cantrell recalled the lessons he and his brothers learned from their Dad:

“He taught us to walk tall with our head high, remember to be proud of your last name, establish a good reputation and always tell the truth. Spending time with your family and being a good provider has always weighed heavily on my father. … I learned early in life you don’t argue with your father, and the boss is always right, and with the boss being your dad, the less said — you’re better off.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Entrepreneur, benefactor James Cantrell dies."