Donald J. Russell
| Donald J. Russell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Donald Joseph McKay Russell January 3, 1900 Denver, Colorado |
| Died | December 13, 1985 (aged 85) San Francisco, California |
| Education | Stanford University, 1917–1920 Loyola University, 1955 (LL.D.) |
| Occupation | 1920–1941: Surveying, Engineering, Construction 1941: Assistant to President 1941–1951: Vice President 1943: Director 1951: Executive Vice President 1952–1964: President 1964–1972: Chairman of the Board |
| Board member of | Trustee Stanford University, Board member of Stanford Research Institute, Regent University of San Francisco, Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Phi Upsilon |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Louise Herring |
Donald Joseph McKay Russell (January 3, 1900 – December 13, 1985) was an American railroad executive. He was president of Southern Pacific Railroad from 1952–1964 and then chairman from 1964–1972. Russell was featured on the cover of Time on August 11, 1961 and Forbes on November 1, 1965.
Russell was born in 1900. He attended Stanford University, but left in 1918 to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War I; during the war, he was badly injured in a plane crash, and subsequently returned to California.
In 1920, Russell started with Southern Pacific, a railroad company, and held a wide variety of positions within the company; he started as a timekeeper. From 1923 to 1926, he was in charge of double tracking the railroad line over the Sierra Nevada mountains; in 1926 and 1927, he was in charge of rehabilitation of the railroad line between Grass Lake in Northern California, and Kirk, Oregon, and construction of a new railroad terminal at Klamath Falls and Crescent Lake, Oregon.
In 1937 he became Assistant to the General Manager at Southern Pacific's headquarters in San Francisco; in 1939, he became Superintendent of the Los Angeles Division. In this period, he held many executive positions; in 1941, he became Assistant to the President of Southern Pacific and subsequently Vice President; in 1943, he was promoted to Director; in 1951 to Executive Vice President; and in 1952, he became the organization's president. On December 1, 1964, he became Southern Pacific's chairman.
One of the most noteworthy events during his tenure was how Southern Pacific handled the so-called "Passenger Problem" during the 1960s. Russell was accused of deliberately sabotaging the service his passenger trains provided so that he could pull Southern Pacific out of the passenger business. Russell said as early as June 1957, "We're going down that road of discontinuing long-haul passenger service with a gradual transition toward the elimination of all passenger service." On the other hand, Robert Jochner, Passenger Department Director for Southern Pacific denied this saying the only reason that Russell downgraded service was not so much to get rid of the passenger trains, but to make sure they made money. Nevertheless, many passenger trains, some very famous, were discontinued under Russell's tenure as President and Chairman of the Board.
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