"Bert-Maynard-Roddy" (August 19,1886-1963)

A well known,innovative businessperson,Bert founded the first African American owned grocery chain in Memphis.He was born in Augusta,Arkansas,to Jerry &Harriette Mckenny Roddy.

When Bert was a young boy,he and his family moved to Memphis,where he attended and later graduated from Lemoyne Institute.Bert Bert had a great interest in promoting racial progress and participating in business and civil activities that benefited African Americans.He was one of the early stockholders of the Solvent Savings Bank and Trust,Company,established in 1906,he became a cashier of the bank in 1914.During this period,he and a 
friend,Robert S.Lewis Sr., opened the Iroquois Cafe,a popular spot on Beale Street.Another friend who assisted in managing  this enterprise was Modecai 
Wyatt Johnson,who later became president of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

In 1916 he joined a political Organization,the Lincoln League,and became a candidate for the state Senate on the Lincoln League ticket.The ticket lost,the Lincoln League became a respected political organization in Memphis,Tennessee,and the nation.Bert was the first president of the Memphis branch of the NAACP,established in 1917.

Bert's business prowess drew him to establish Citizen's Cooperative Stores in 1920.There were fourteen of these stores at the peak of the business's success,
along with several dozen employees and fleet of delivery trucks,the stores met their demise due to the recession of the 1920s and increased market competition.

An active church member,Bert was a member of Second Congregational Church for many years and was superintendent of the church's Sunday School as well as a trustee.

He organized the syndicate that launched the Supreme Life and Casualty Company of Ohio, founded Truman Kella Gibson Sr.Later the company moved to Chicago with his family,Bert became the assistant agency officer of Supreme in 1931 and retained this position until he retired in 1957.