John M. Harbert

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John Murdoch Harbert III (born July 19, 1921 in Greenville, Mississippi; died 1995 in Birmingham, Alabama) was an American businessman. He is best known for building his construction empire, Harbert Corporation and his personal wealth of over $1.5 billion.

Mr. Harbert served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He received a degree in civil engineering from Auburn University in 1946. In 1949, he founded the Harbert Corporation. The company main business was its domestic and international construction unit, which at the time was one of the largest in the country. In the early 1990's the company sold its domestic construction operation. It also sold its international construction division around the same time to John's brother Bill L. Harbert, which today is known as B.L. Harbert International. Other company subsidiaries engaged in mining, pipeline development, land development, limestone quarrying, road construction. Harbert projects are numerous in Alabama, but the company had many projects in the Middle East as well. In metro Birmingham, Harbert's best known projects include the Elton B. Stephens Expressway (also called the Red Mountain Expressway, U.S. Highway 280), the Riverchase planned community, the accompanying Riverchase Galleria, the state's largest shopping center, and the Regions-Harbert Plaza.

A lengthy section of Interstate 459, the belt highway around the south side of metro Birmingham, is named for Harbert.

Harbert was a noted philanthropist, with numerous contributions to projects in Alabama, particularly to Auburn University and to Birmingham-Southern College, where a building bears his wife's name.

Harbert was married to the former Marguerite “Wita” Jones. The couple had three children, John Murdoch IV, Raymond, and Marguerite.

Harbert was an alumnus of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity.

[edit] Books

John M. Harbert III: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer, (ISBN 0-9666546-0-9) by Leah Rawls Atkins, Tarva House, Birmingham, Alabama (1999)