Mark Hodo
John Mark Hodo (born April 18, 1897 in Lamar County; died June 9, 1974 in Birmingham) was a real estate developer, co-founder of the Exchange Security Bank, chairman of the City Federal Savings & Loan, and chair of the Appropriations Committee for the Alabama State House of Representatives.
Hodo was the son of John Baldwin and Eugenia Noble Gunter Hodo of Lamar County. He attended the University of Alabama and married the former Lois Blount Rudulph in New York in 1925. She bore him his first daughter, Jean in 1928.
He co-founded the Exchange Bank in 1928 with W. S. Edwards Sr and W. D. Phillips. That bank merged with the Security Commercial Bank in 1957 to form the Exchange-Security Bank. He married his second wife, the former Mitylene Yates in 1935. She had two more girls, Carol and Mitylene.
As a real estate executive, Hodo partnered with Nelson Weaver in the Hodo-Weaver Companies. Hodo served as president of the Birmingham Association of Realtors in 1935. In January 1936 he testified before a U.S. Senate committee in support of the establishment of the federal mortgage bank. Hodo-Weaver developed the Sheraton Apartments on the site of the former Culpepper Exum residence on Highland Avenue in 1951.
Hodo served on the advisory committee for the Dixie Bowl in 1948, and was the bowl's president in 1949.
Hodo was chosen as "Birmingham Man of the Year" for 1961. In 1963 he was appointed to the Community Affairs Committee which attempted to bridge racial barriers in the aftermath of the Birmingham Campaign for Civil Rights. As part of that committee's efforts, Hodo joined with John Newsome and John Hill to inaugurate an annual Birmingham Mayors' Prayer Breakfast in May 1964. Hodo later chaired the 1972 Billy Graham Alabama Crusade which featured a racially integrated choir at Legion Field.
Hodo served two terms in the state legislature.
Hodo died in June 1977. He was survived by his second wife, Mitylene, and three daughters. He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
References
- "Ex-legislator Mark Hodo dies at 77." (June 10, 1974) Anniston Star
- Garrison, Greg (May 1, 2014) "'God uses leadership' - mayors, pastors, civic leaders celebrate National Day of Prayer." The Birmingham News
External links
- Mark Hodo at Findagrave.com