It is hard for friends of Harold A. Dawson Sr. to separate the businessman from the family man. He had a unique way of incorporating his family into his business affairs, they say.
His two children echo a similar sentiment: They were aware of how important their father’s business was, but they also knew family trumped all.
“Dad would never spend a night out of town if he didn’t have to,” said his son and namesake, Harold A. Dawson Jr. “He’d do everything he could to get back in town as quickly as possible. He’d break his neck trying to get out of a meeting and be home by dinnertime so we could all eat together.”
Harold Allen Dawson Sr. of Atlanta died Jan. 19 at Emory University Hospital after battling lymphoma. He was 76. A funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Friday at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College. Burial will follow at Lincoln Cemetery. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Dawson was a product of Atlanta, through and through. He grew up in University Homes and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and Morehouse. Mr. Dawson came along during a time when racial tensions not only divided Atlanta geographically, but the professional landscape as well. Much of what Mr. Dawson did was an effort to unite the city and its people, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young said.
Mr. Dawson, who started his career selling real estate, worked hard to get his African-American peers, known then as Realtists, access to the tools used by their white counterparts, known as Realtors. He also attempted to develop real estate in predominately African-American communities, where big banks would not loan money for development, said Mr. Young, who will eulogize his friend.
Mr. Dawson’s vision, when it came to real estate development, was extraordinary, friend and colleague Herman J. Russell Sr. said.
“He had one of the best real estate minds of anyone I’ve ever met,” Mr. Russell said. “He could visualize what was going to happen and where. And with all of that expertise he had, he always remained a gentleman.”
Mr. Dawson’s reputation as a man of morals crossed racial boundaries. Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition and a former Atlanta mayor, remembers Mr. Dawson as a friend and a political ally.
“It has been people like Harold who have helped bring us all together for the commonwealth,” Mr. Massell said.
Mr. Dawson started the Harold A. Dawson Co. in 1969. Upon his death he was still chairman of the board, but his son had been president and chief operating officer since 1995. As head of the company, the elder Mr. Dawson oversaw the building of several residential towers and mixed-used developments in Atlanta, and beyond, including Baltimore and St. Louis.
Early on Mr. Dawson included his children in the business as much as possible. Cari K. Dawson remembers sitting on the back seat of her father’s car as he drove potential home buyers around town.
“I knew how to sell a house by the time I was 10,” she said with a light chuckle. “But that’s because my dad took me with him and exposed me to that side of the business.”
He didn’t stop there, said Ms. Dawson, who is a partner at Alston & Bird in Atlanta. He sat her down and explained his commission and how that money was used for household expenses.
“He exposed us to so many things, and he didn’t keep any of it to himself," she said. "He always included us.”
Harold Dawson Jr. said his father set a high bar when it came to fatherhood, a mark he is determined to reach and pass on to his three children, especially his 17-year-old son, Harold A. Dawson III. Mr. Dawson Jr. said his father created a delicate balance of keeping his two children grounded, yet exposing them to as much as he could.
“He really prepared me to be a father,” Mr. Dawson said of his father. “I know that I’m a good father because of the things that Dad and Mom taught me. And that is a special feeling.”
In addition to his two children and three grandchildren, Mr. Dawson is survived by his wife of 50 years, Rose Winfrey Dawson.
About the Author
