Family album: these intimate snapshots illustrate the ties that bind at some of the nation's largest black businesses - B.E. 100s Photo Essay

Family business is American business, and it's no different for the BLACK ENTERPRISE 100s. The companies on our industrial/service, auto dealer, advertising, and financial companies lists are replete with CEOs who have tapped their siblings, spouses, children, and even parents as partners and employees. Among them are some of the most respected black families in America, including the Johnsons of Johnson Publishing Co. and the Graveses of Earl G. Graves Ltd. (publisher of this magazine). One former BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 company had as many as 18 family members on its payroll last year. It isn't always easy to be in business with "blood," but it's definitely rewarding. As one CEO put it, "There is no one better to watch my back than family."

We wanted to give you a glimpse into the private lives of a few of the families behind some of our most successful BE 100s companies. Members of these families gave us valuable insight into what it takes to maintain a successful multimillion-dollar business and still remain a family.

You'll meet sibling business partners, husband-and-wife entrepreneurs, and traditional, patriarch-led empires. Their businesses range from grocery stores to broadcasting to investment banking. Some are even grooming future generations for roles in the family enterprise.

They all have one thing in common: Each of these families maintains the delicate balance between business life and personal relationships. They love one another. They take care of one another. It so happens that they do business with one another--business is in their blood.

the calhoun family

Calhoun Enterprises * Food & Beverage, Telecommunications Montgomery, Alabama * No. 32 on the B.E. INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list

Gregory Calhoun, 50, has been in the grocery business for 19 years. In the past, he worked for as many as 10 different grocery stores. He would later buy each of them.

Today, Calhoun owns six stores across two states, employing about 480 people. His bread-and-butter is his chain of supermarkets, although he also has a subsidiary division in warehousing and telecommunications. His three siblings, his wife, and his children help manage Calhoun Enterprises, which grossed $107 million dollars in sales last year.

"I didn't force [my business] on them," Calhoun says. "I let them make up their own mind; they made their own decisions."

His children--son Malcolm, 32, general manager; daughter Shakenya Davis, 30, vice president of human resources; and Renard Calhoun, 22, assistant to the CFO--interned with major corporations while attending Florida A&M, but they eventually returned home to Montgomery, Alabama, to work in the family business. His wife, Verlyn, 47, is the company's CFO. They are a close family, often sharing vacations and dinners together. "We know how to turn the business off when we need to be a family," Calhoun says.

Gregory, Renard, Shakenya, Verlyn, and Malcolm load up on groceries.

the goldston family

The Gourmet Companies * Food * Beverage, Golf Course Management Atlanta, Georgia * No. 21 on the B.E. INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list

The Gourmet Cos. manages the food service for higher-education institutions like Morehouse and Hampton universities, two of the company's larger accounts. "We feed about 3,000 kids, three times a day, at Hampton," says CEO Nathaniel Goldston III. "I'll pit our food services at Morehouse and Hampton against anybody in the country."

With the exception of his oldest son, most of his immediate family works for the company. Daughter Kim, 31, is vice presidents. Her husband, Chief financial Officer Charles Martin, 32, works with Goldston's wife and senior vice president, Valerie, 46. Other family members include niece LaTissa N. Sewell, 28, administrative service assistant; son Steven D. Goldston, 29, the purchasing assistant for the company's contract with the Atlanta public school system; daughter-in-law Leslie Goldston, 46, special events planner and chef; nephews Chandler D. Scott, 30, accounting manager; and Ron F. Leonard Jr., 24, the company's vending manager for Coca-Cola Fountain.

Goldston says hiring family means he doesn't have to worry about dedication and details. "Everyone has something at stake," he says. "Everybody has something to gain."

LaTissa, Charles, Valerie, Nathaniel, Kimberly, and Steven are ready to tee off.

the russell family

H.J. Russell & Company * Construction, Real Estate Development Atlanta, Georgia * No. 11 on the B.E. INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list

Donata Major was 12 years old and working for her father when she started calling him H.J. "I wanted to feel like the other workers," she explains. "I didn't want to walk around the office calling him Daddy. I've been calling him H.J. ever since."

Today, Major, 44, and her two brothers run one of the nation's largest black-owned companies, H.J. Russell & Co., founded by their father, Chairman and CEO Herman J. Russell, 72. Brother H. Jerome, 40, president and co-CEO, manages the property management division and real estate development. Brother Michael, 38, executive vice president, oversees the construction division. Major has worked for the company since the summer she started calling her father H.J., except for four years when she was away at college. She started in property management, leaving construction to her brothers.