Jim Webb’s Legacy: “Be the Difference”
Date Posted: November 9, 2014
Posted In: News, People,
by Tom Finan, Executive Director, Construction Forum STL
James B. Webb was a big man, both physically and in the swath he cut across racial, community, and business divides. At services in his honor Saturday his daughter, Anna Webb Camp, told several hundred people assembled at the Manchester United Methodist Church to remember that they each carried “a small piece” of Jim Webb inside of them.
“Live your passion. Share it with someone else. Go out and serve. Continue to be the difference,” Camp said.
Jim Webb died last Monday from injuries suffered in a single-car accident over the weekend. He had been experiencing health problems recently and apparently had a stroke while driving.
Camp told of how her family came to accept sharing Mr. Webb, who recently retired as CEO of the St. Louis Minority Business Council, with the community. She said that growing up in her household the expectation was that family members would be of service, something in which she said her father led by example.
The breadth of that service was reflected by the breadth of diversity in the attendees at the funeral service. There were corporate executives, politicians, friends who had traveled from other states, and neighbors of the Webb family. Even the choir at the service reflected that diversity, it was a combined, 120-member ensemble form Antioch Baptist Church, Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church, the St. Louis Symphony’s IN UNISON Chorus, and Manchester United Methodist Chancel Choir.
Mr. Webb was a strong and persistent voice in the St. Louis construction industry. He was actively involved in the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers’ diversity committee and was a founding organizer of the annual diversity workshop.
Manchester UMC Officiating Pastor Gregory M. Weeks said that Mr. Webb would have been embarrassed by a recitation of his accomplishments and involvements. But Rev. Weeks said that his wife said, “Wow” when he shared them with her. So he recited the litany, saying he felt that Mr. Webbs’ friends and associates would want to celebrate his achievements and contributions.
Mr. Webb was past president and chief executive officer of the St. Louis Minority Business Council, where he served for 13 years. He also held senior management positions at SBC Communications and AT&T before founding Kataman Communications, a telecommunications provider.
In addition to his corporate work, Mr. Webb was a highly active patron of area nonprofits, among them the St. Louis Development Council Fund, United Way of Greater St. Louis, where he served as a director, the Governor’s Strategic Planning Committee, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s Community Partnership Advisory Board, Portfolio Gallery & Education Center, St. Louis Metro Sewer District Plan Amendment Commission, National Business Consortium, Boy Scouts of America and the National Alliance of Business.
He chaired the boards of directors of Presbyterian Children’s Services and the George Washington Carver House Center and served as a board member of Epworth Children’s Home, the National Methodist Association, Central Institute for the Deaf, and St. Martin’s Child Center.
“He didn’t raise his voice,” Rev. Weeks said. “But when he spoke people heard him. He had dignity and humility. “It’s who he was.”
Rev. Weeks said that Mr. Webb had learned of a Manchester UMC mission called “Sneakers with Soul,” http://www.manchesterumc.org/sneakers that collects shoes for inner city children. Mr. Webb had marshalled his corporate connections behind the success of that effort. Rev. Weeks said that the Webb family had requested that memorials be made to that program.