Mention the name Marshall Reynolds and you will get knowing smiles and nods in return. The longtime Huntington resident and businessman has made an indelible impact in the community as an entrepreneur, business owner, investor and philanthropist. And now he is making hospital visits a bit easier for children and families.
As a founder, owner or board chair, Marshall T. Reynolds has been at the head of 16 different companies — all with multimillion dollar valuations — across a variety of industries nationwide. His companies have employed tens of thousands and have served their respective communities in the printing, banking, finance, food service, farming, dairy, railroad, energy and hospitality industries.
From humble beginnings as a clean-up and delivery boy from “the wrong side of the tracks,” Reynolds developed a business acumen that propelled him to become one of West Virginia’s most successful businessmen. He eventually purchased the printing company that gave him his first job and built it into a market leader. That success was accompanied by diversifying interests as he had already ventured into the banking world and was determined to do more.
“I got involved in banking because I thought you could do more social good with that industry than anything else. That and because of the terrible times I had getting financing for a little printing company. That is the root of it. Banks can change things and they should take the lead in a community,” Reynolds told the Huntington Quarterly.
Reynolds’ desire to “do good” has landed him on the boards of a number of nonprofit organizations. And he has contributed to many worthy causes that impact the lives of people in the Huntington area. One of those — and perhaps the most special to Reynolds, personally — is his recent decision to contribute to the development and expansion of the new pediatric emergency room lobby/waiting area at Cabell Huntington Hospital. That includes the creation of a special lobby/waiting area designed to accommodate children and their families.
“Kids do not need to be crowded into a waiting room, sitting up against all kinds of people suffering with all kinds of afflictions,” he said. “Going to the hospital can be traumatic enough for them without that kind of exposure.”
Reynolds’ main reason for giving is his love for his kids and grandchildren. Marshall and his late wife, Shirley, raised two sons and have seven grandchildren. Over the years, the Reynolds family has developed an appreciation for the work of Hoops Family Children’s Hospital as a force for good to the children in the Tri-State area.
Reynolds is quiet about his giving, yet he has played a significant role in helping develop and expand not only the hospital’s pediatric emergency room lobby, but also three treatment rooms. This new construction will be named the Douglas V. Reynolds Pediatric Emergency Room Lobby in honor of Reynolds’ father. Douglas Reynolds, like his own father and grandfathers, hauled coal from distant mines before moving to the Huntington area to become a purchasing agent for a hydraulics company. Marshall chose to honor his father in this special way because he was the inspiration for how the values of hard, honest work, persistence and taking risks can lead to success in life as well as in business.
“Work is only work if you would rather be doing something else,” said Reynolds. That philosophy has propelled him to make a profound difference in his community.
To learn more about the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital, visit www.hoopschildrens.org.
