Charlotte lost a major leader, fundraiser and supporter with the passing this week of Jim Hynes at the age of 84. Hynes, a 1962 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, is one of those people who isn't a household name but helped build the city into what it is today. He was chair of Atrium Health from 2000 to 2012, served as chair of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, was a trustee at UNC Chapel Hill and a Harris Teeter director.
Hynes traveled the world extensively after attending Naval Officer Candidate School and being assigned to an admiral’s personal staff. His close friend and next-door neighbor of 25 years, Mark Ethridge, former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer and former publisher of the Charlotte Business Journal, says those travels shaped Hynes’ appreciation and respect for other cultures and his leadership style. In an interview with WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn, Ethridge credits Hynes with Charlotte’s transformation from a small town to a major city.
Mark Ethridge: He is one of the people who put Charlotte on the map as a major league town, as a banking center, a corporate center and so much else. He was probably one of the most important fundraisers in Charlotte. He and Smoky Bissell together raised the bulk of the money to get the Levine Children's Hospital started. Smoky Bissell was a Charlotte real estate developer. He was the guy who developed Ballantyne. Jim's whole vision was to put Charlotte on the map, and it came from his background in sales. He used to tell me that when he would want to have a meeting with somebody from, say, New York, they’d either tell him that he had to come to New York or that they would meet him in Atlanta. He said people didn't want to come to Charlotte back in the '70s really because it didn't have a good hotel. You couldn't get liquor by the drink, and one of the things he set out to do was to change that.
Gwendolyn Glenn: You've talked about all the things he did. Describe him on a personal level.
Ethridge: Very modest, unassuming, deeply interested in all people from all persuasions. Charitably minded, one of the best-read people who I ever knew on the whole planet. But there is nothing that he enjoyed more than to say, go to lunch with a colleague to, you know, it wasn't always, you know, fancy white tablecloth places. It was often an ethnic restaurant. Lang Van, the Vietnamese restaurant was one of his favorites, and he loved nothing more than to go talk politics or the state of the arts.
Glenn: Was he funny? Was he approachable?
Ethridge: Totally approachable. You wouldn't know he was a big shooter. He had time for everybody and really accepted everybody on sort of an equal level. He found almost everybody interesting in some way.
Glenn: What are some of your fond memories on a personal level of him?
Ethridge: I was one of those people who was fortunate enough to go to lunch with him or dinner with him and talk about things, and sometimes we would fall into a conversation that would get loud and I would become aware that the entire restaurant had gone silent so that they could eavesdrop on our conversation. I've mentioned he was very philanthropic, but it wasn't just on a big level. He tipped extravagantly because he knew that the people that he was tipping needed it.
Glenn: Now you mentioned that he helped put Charlotte on the map. How did he put Charlotte on the map?
Ethridge: One of the ways was by taking what was Charlotte Memorial Hospital back in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was not the preferred hospital for most people at that point, Presbyterian was, but he understood that the best way to provide great health care was to provide great health care to everybody. And that meant high-end people and people who couldn't afford it. When George Shinn came along and wanted to bring what became the Charlotte Hornets, Jim Hynes was one of the guys George Shinn called and said 'I need you to help me sell 5,000 season tickets' because that's what the NBA needed as proof that Charlotte could support an NBA.
He was a huge supporter of the airport expansion and as the Chamber of Commerce president played a big role in Charlotte becoming the big city that it is.
Glenn: Would you say that he would be known in, say, for instance, the African American and the Hispanic community? Did he get involved in other communities in Charlotte as well?
Ethridge: Yes, he did, because he understood how important, for instance, the African American community was to Charlotte and how many, many things in Charlotte that happened like the airport would never have happened without the support of the African American community, so he was very close friends with Bishop George Battle, Elizabeth Randolph. These were very influential people in the African American community.
Glenn: He was chair of the board of Atrium. What would you say is his legacy there? What did he do in terms of making health care better in Charlotte as chair of the board of Atrium?
Ethridge: The main thing was to turn Atrium into a first-class hospital rather than the charity hospital, which is frankly what it was, and it had a mandate from the county and still its mandate to serve the entire community, including people of limited resources. But his solution to that was to build a great institution. Jim was one of the people who decided the name Charlotte Memorial Hospital was not helpful. Charlotte made it seem like it was just about the city and memorial conjured up images of the dead. So he led the charge to rename it Carolinas Healthcare. But the main thing he did was get on the phone and call on everybody he knew to make substantial gifts to build the hospital. He also celebrated diversity, inclusion and talent. Gene Woods, a man of color, is the CEO. The next chair of the Board of Atrium is likely to be an African American woman.
Glenn: On a personal note, what will you miss most about your friend?
Ethridge: Lunch. I will miss our extensive, sometimes loud, occasionally contentious back and forth about the state of politics. He was not an ideologue, but he supported progressive people no matter what party they were in.
Glenn: And you did see him (before he passed)?
Ethridge: I did see him and he wanted to visit. I think he wanted to say goodbye and he said, “Mark, the last two weeks have been some of the happiest of my life. I've had the people that I care about come and visit. I can look back on my life and what we've achieved and feel very good about it. I've had a good time. I'm gonna miss all that.” I said, ‘You know, it's remarkable that you can say that.’ He said, “Well, I've had a good run and I've tried to do some good.”