Philanthropist Joseph “Joe” Orgill III dies
Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, who helped run a big Memphis-based hardware supply business and supported a wide range of charitable causes including Dixon Gallery and Gardens and Church Health, has died at the age of 80.
The family didn’t disclose a cause of death but said it was a brief illness. People who knew Mr. Orgill described him as a friendly and good-humored man who rarely sought publicity yet played leadership roles in many Memphis institutions, including the Society of Entrepreneurs.
Mr. Orgill was born into a privileged family in Memphis and graduated from the Taft School, a private boarding school in Connecticut, then from Yale University.
“Yes, he may have come from a point of privilege, but it didn’t mean that Joe didn’t believe in equality,” said Dr. Scott Morris, CEO of Church Health. “And it was driven by his position of faith. He did a daily devotional with him and his wife.”
Mr. Orgill was one of a group of five deep-pocketed white Episcopalians who sought to mediate the sanitation workers’ strike of 1968, and drew attention for their willingness to listen to representatives of African-American strikers, Morris said.
Mr. Orgill had also served as a fundraiser and board chairman for Church Health, formerly called the Church Health Center. It’s an institution that provides a wide range of medical services to the working poor.
Morris says Mr. Orgill taught him valuable lessons about business. “Joe told me the best person to sell a hammer to is someone you’ve already sold a hammer to,” Morris said.
In the charitable context, that meant soliciting donations from people who had donated before.
Morris says most people in Memphis have no idea of the scope of Orgill Inc., the privately held, under-the-radar company which now has its headquarters in Collierville. It was founded by Mr. Orgill’s ancestors in 1847.
Morris says that about three years ago, Mr. Orgill invited him and his wife to an Orgill trade show in Chicago.
“It was just acres and acres and acres of hardware,” Morris recalled.
Orgill Inc. caters to independent hardware stores, many of them small and local. Some of the visitors at the trade show were dressed in traditional Amish clothing, Morris said. “Makes sense, the Amish are really into building stuff, right?” And there was Mr. Orgill out front, shaking hands with everyone who walked up.
“I just heard every last person that I observed shake his hand walk away and go ‘Can you believe we just met Joe Orgill?’ I mean, within that world, Joe is a combination between Bono and Mr. Rogers.”
According to a remembrance posted by Orgill Inc., Mr. Orgill joined the company as a salesman and later served as president from 1968-1980 and as chairman of the board until 2005.
The company described his role: “Though he had not been active in Orgill’s day-to-day management for a number of years, Mr. Orgill played a prominent role in the growth of the distribution company.”
The company says that during more than 60 years in the business, he guided the company’s transition from a small regional wholesaler to one of the largest companies of its kind in the world. “Just last year, he celebrated with the company as it surpassed $2 billion in annual sales.”
He enjoyed golf games, said his longtime friend Roy Moore, who is also 80 years old. “Joe is ultracompetitive. Playing with friends and being able to insult and embarrass them and they would do us the same. And it was all in fun.”
They would meet on Thursday to play bridge, and Mr. Orgill would usually excuse himself early - he had to go deliver food to the poor through the Meals on Wheels program.
“It’s going to be such a great loss to his family and to the whole Mid-South,” said Neely Mallory III, 59, who said Mr. Orgill was friends with his parents and that he has known him his whole life.
He said Mr. Orgill had served as an outside board member for his family’s logistics businesses, The Mallory Group, and gave sage business advice.
During the Great Recession, for instance, Mr. Orgill urged The Mallory Group to build relationships with multiple banks because they couldn’t predict which ones might collapse. Mallory said the businesses followed that advice.
He described Mr. Orgill as a man with a sense of humor who also showed great dedication to spending time with his daughters and grandchildren. “He was just very involved in their lives. And not just for Christmas and Easter. I’m talking about all the time.”
Mr. Orgill is survived by his wife, Irene Leatherman Orgill, daughters Adele, Irene, Anne, and Kate, a sister, Kate Orgill Boone, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The family requests that memorials be sent to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens at 4339 Park Avenue, Memphis, TN 38117, Church Health at 1350 Concourse Avenue #142, Memphis, TN 38104, or St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3245 Central Ave., Memphis, TN 38111.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.