As a young construction contractor, Bob Shell knew that just building buildings wasn't enough, that a company had to build relationships with its clients as well, two who knew him best said Wednesday.
Shell, former president and chief executive officer for Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. in Little Rock, died Tuesday after battling cancer, his longtime close friend Jack Ramer said.
Shell was 88, two months short of his 89th birthday.
He retired in 2017 as chairman of his company's board of directors but remained as chairman emeritus until his death, company president and chief executive Scott Copas said Wednesday.
Shell joined the company, then the 4-year-old Baldwin Co., in 1950, working his way up to chief executive officer by 1979, Copas said. In 1983, after the death of Werner Knoop, the company's co-founder, it was dissolved and re-formed as Baldwin & Shell. Shell became its president and chief executive officer.
"He started at the bottom and continued to work his way up," said Ramer, who said he and Shell were friends for 58 years.
Ramer said he has handled insurance and bonding for the company since 1961, when he and Shell became acquainted.
Early on, Shell focused on building a "client-focused company," emphasizing quality service to its customers, according to the company website, baldwinshell.com. The company's sales volume grew from $19 million in 1984 to more than $211 million in 2010, at which point Shell was named chairman of the board, with Copas taking over as president and CEO, according to company history.
"Bob realized that there are a lot of people that can be a general contractor," Copas said. "But when you finally realize you're not just a builder, you're a service company there to service the client and whatever their needs are, it's not just getting out there and building a building. It's providing those additional services, whatever that client needs to make them happy.
"He pounded that into us for years, that we're as much a service company as we are a contractor."
Shell was honored with many awards during his career, both for his company's work and his philanthropy. Among them were the Blind Vision Award from World Services of the Blind, which honored him in October 2012 for his $100,000 matching pledge gift to the organization, according to an Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette article that month.
"He had various causes and charities that he not only gave his time to, but also a great deal of money," Ramer said. "As a friend, I'd say he had a bulldog attitude. Every time he took on a project of any kind, whether it was business or charitable, he would not leave that project until he reached total achievement."
Shell was an active member of his community, serving on boards such as the Baptist Health Foundation, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Fifty for the Future and Alzheimer's of Arkansas, among others. He was one of five charter members of the Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame, a former Arkansas chapter president of the Associated General Contractors of America and a national lifetime director of the organization.
"He was truly a leader in our industry, not just in the state, but in the country," Copas said.
Shell was particularly proud of serving as a presidential appointee to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995, under fellow Arkansan President Bill Clinton, and his appointment to the Economic Conference of the President and Vice President, Ramer said.
"Of the many honors he had over the years, those two things were important to him," Ramer said.
While most considered Shell a "serious person," Ramer said, he also could be a prankster to his friends.
"Most people didn't know that," he said. "I will miss him as a very close friend, but most people who knew Bob will miss him as a great person."
Metro on 08/08/2019