{{Short description|American railroad executive}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Donald J. Russell | image = DonaldJ.RussellImage.jpg | birth_name = Donald Joseph McKay Russell | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|01|03}} | birth_place = [[Denver, Colorado]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1985|12|13|1900|01|03}} | death_place = [[San Francisco, California]] | known_for = | spouse = Mary Louise Herring | children = [[Ann Russell Miller]] (daughter)<ref>"Sr. Mary Joseph of the Trinty who became 'kind of an unusual nun,'dead at 91," '''Chicago Sun-Times (Illinois),''' Maureen O'Donnell, June 8, 2021</ref> | education = [[Stanford University]], 1917–1920 [[Loyola Law School|Loyola University]], 1955 (LL.D.) | occupation = 1920–1941: Surveying, Engineering, Construction 1941: Assistant to President 1941–1951: Vice President 1943: Director 1951: Executive Vice President 1952–1964: President 1964–1972: Chairman of the Board | boards = Trustee [[Stanford University]], Board member of [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]], Regent [[University of San Francisco]], [[Delta Tau Delta]], [[Sigma Phi Upsilon]] }} '''Donald Joseph McKay Russell''' (January 3, 1900 – December 13, 1985) was an American railroad executive. He was president of [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] from 1952 to 1964 and then chairman from 1964 to 1972. Russell was featured on the cover of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] on August 11, 1961, and ''[[Forbes]]'' on November 1, 1965.<ref name="auto">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19610811,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117005033/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19610811,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2008|title=Donald J.M. Russell|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=1961-08-11|accessdate=2012-03-04}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Russell was born in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], in 1900.<ref name="auto"/> He attended [[Stanford University]], but left in 1918 to enlist in the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] in [[World War I]];<ref name="hof">{{cite book|url=http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/86075/Hofsommer-The%20Southern%20Pacific.pdf.txt?sequence=5|title=The Southern Pacific, 1901-1985|first=Don L.|last=Hofsommer|pages=225–227}}</ref> during the war, he was badly injured in a plane crash, and subsequently returned to California.
==Career== [[File:Southern Pacific Company system map (1918).svg|right|thumb|Southern Pacific Service Area by 1918]] In 1920, Russell began his career at [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] as a 45-cent-an-hour timekeeper.<ref name="death">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/16/us/donald-j-russell-dies-at-85-led-southern-pacific-railroad.html|title=Donald J. Russell Dies at 85; Led Southern Pacific Railroad|first=Larry|last=Rother|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1985-12-16|accessdate=2012-03-04}}</ref> From 1923 to 1926, he was in charge of [[double track]]ing the railroad line over the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada mountains]]; in 1926 and 1927, he was in charge of rehabilitation of the railroad line between Grass Lake, California and [[Kirk, Oregon]], and construction of a new railroad terminal at [[Klamath Falls]] and [[Crescent Lake, Oregon]].
In 1937 he became assistant to the general manager at Southern Pacific's headquarters in [[San Francisco]]; in 1939, he became superintendent of the [[Los Angeles]] Division. In this period, he held many executive positions; in 1941, he became assistant to the president of Southern Pacific and subsequently vice president; in 1943, he was promoted to director; in 1951 to executive vice president; and in 1952, he became the organization's president, the youngest since the line's founder, Leland Stanford.<ref name="death"/> On December 1, 1964, he became Southern Pacific's chairman.
One of the most noteworthy events during his tenure was how Southern Pacific handled the so-called "Passenger Problem" during the 1960s. Russell was accused of deliberately sabotaging the service his passenger trains provided so that he could pull Southern Pacific out of the passenger business.<ref name="tw">{{cite book|first=Fred W|last=Frailey|title=Twilight of the Great Trains|pages=40–51}}</ref> Russell said as early as June 1957, "We're going down that road of discontinuing long-haul passenger service with a gradual transition toward the elimination of all passenger service."<ref name="TrainsMag1957Aug">{{cite news|last1=Morgan|first1=David P.|title=Arrivals and Departures|work=Trains Magazine|issue=10|publisher=Kalmbach Publication Co.|date=August 1957|volume=17 |page=12}}</ref> On the other hand, Robert Jochner, Passenger Department director for Southern Pacific denied this, saying the only reason that Russell downgraded service was not so much to get rid of the passenger trains, but to make sure they made money.<ref name="tw"/> Nevertheless, many passenger trains, some very famous, were discontinued under Russell's tenure as president and chairman of the board.<ref name="tw"/>
While he was in leadership positions, Southern Pacific began a $3 billion modernization program, which included full locomotive dieselization. Southern Pacific also diversified to non-rail operations, including truck and piggy-back services; petroleum and coal slurry pipelines; and communications services. In 1952, Russell directed rescue efforts for passengers stranded on the ''[[City of San Francisco (train)|City of San Francisco]]'' when it was marooned by record snow in the Sierra.<ref name="hof"/> Also in 1952, Russell led the reconstruction of 25 miles of line in 25 days after the [[1952 Kern County earthquake|Kern County earthquake]] in the [[Tehachapi Mountains]].<ref name="hof"/>
Russell also funded research and development; he served as a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees and was also a long-time board member of the [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI), and helped connect technical challenges at Southern Pacific with researchers at SRI starting with a project to design a new coupling system in 1954, resulting in the development of the SRI [[Hydra-Cushion]] freight car, designed by [[William K. MacCurdy]]. Later research would result in the still-used train-tracking [[TOPS]] computer system.<ref>{{cite book | last = Nielson | first = Donald | title = A Heritage of Innovation: SRI's First Half Century | publisher = [[SRI International]] | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-9745208-1-0 | location = [[Menlo Park, California]] | page=6-1 - 6-2 }}</ref> Russell retired in 1972 and died in 1985.<ref name="death"/>
==See also== * [[List of railroad executives]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{succession box| before=[[Hale Holden]] (1932–1939) position then became vacant| title=Chairman of the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] Board of Directors| years=1964–1972| after=[[Benjamin Biaggini]] (1976–1983) position vacant from 1972–1976| }} {{S-end}}
{{Southern Pacific Presidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Donald J.}} [[Category:20th-century American business executives in rail transportation]] [[Category:Southern Pacific Railroad people]] [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1985 deaths]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Denver]] [[Category:Royal Canadian Air Force personnel]] [[Category:Directors of SRI International]] [[Category:Stanford University alumni]] [[Category:Stanford University trustees]] [[Category:20th-century American academics]]