Motown's matriarch, Esther Gordy Edwards, 'always came out a hero'
Esther Gordy Edwards, a pioneering female executive at Motown, founder of the Motown Historical Museum and sister of Berry Gordy Jr., died Wednesday at home, with family and friends at her side. She was 91.
"Whatever she did, it was with the highest standards, professionalism and an attention to detail that was legendary," Motown founder Gordy said in a statement. "She always came out a hero. Esther wasn't concerned with being popular. She was dedicated to making us all better ? the Gordy family and the Motown family."
At a time ? the early 1960s ? when female record executives were few and far between, Edwards was a trusted lieutenant to her brother at Motown, serving as manager to many of his young acts, eventually promoted to become a senior vice-president, corporate secretary and director of Motown international operations.
"She lived a good life," said Motown star Martha Reeves. "She was so important in the development of Motown."
Edwards was the Motown executive who rode along with the young (often teenaged) acts on the Motown Revue bus tours as they traveled through often-dangerous conditions ? the bus was once pelted with bullets ? in the Southern U.S. in the early 1960s.
"She was riding right with us on the bus on that first Motown Revue," Reeves recalled. "She took us through the ranks and was a very good mentor. And she loved the artists as much as Berry. The proof of it was, she stayed here when Motown moved to L.A. (in 1972). We're going to really miss her."
Edwards was especially active in Stevie Wonder's career when he was a minor, helping him set up tutors, manage his money and enroll in the Michigan School for the Blind.
"She believed in me," Wonder said in a statement. "When I was 14 years old and many other people didn't or could only see what they could at the time, she championed me being in Motown. I shared with her many of my songs first before anyone else. She was like another mother to me; she was an extension of that same kind of motherly love."
Petite (4-feet-10), and, like all the Gordy women, always immaculately turned out in designer suits and high heels, Edwards was revered for a tough-mindedness that was leavened with warmth and humor.
Asked once why her brother had so many women in executive positions at Motown, Edwards leaned in to whisper, with a wink, "Berry knew ? women are smarter than men."
Singer Smokey Robinson worked alongside her as a vice-president at Motown.
"Not only is she one of the most important people to come into my life both personally and professionally and someone I will always love, but it is because of her wisdom and foresight that we have a pictorial and itemized history of Motown, the Motown Museum, which allows people now and for generations to come to have a first-hand look at our legacy. Thank you, Esther, and I know you are in the arms of God," Robinson said in a statement.
Edwards was born April 25, 1920, in Oconee, Georgia, to Berry "Pops" Gordy, Sr. and Bertha Fuller Gordy, the eldest daughter in a family of eight children (her sisters were Loucye, Anna and Gwen, her brothers Fuller, George, Berry Jr. and Robert L.).
The family moved to Detroit when Edwards was a toddler. The close-knit Gordys lived on the west side of Detroit, and their hard-working father ran a construction business, a grocery, a printing business and other concerns, while their mother sold insurance and was a businesswoman on her own.
In 2003, Edwards laid out the Gordy family philosophy to The Detroit News:
"Be the best, strive for excellence, learn everything. My dad taught us girls how to change tires, we knew how to drive cars by the time we were 9 or 10 years old," Edwards said. "Whoever can do a job best, let them do it. Some women can do better handling money than the fellows. Berry had more women vice-presidents and above than any other corporation at the time."
Infused with the Gordy passion for business, Edwards helped establish the Ber-Berry Co-Op, a family bank that each Gordy was expected to give $10 to each month. It was an $800 loan from the Gordy "bank" in 1959 that helped brother Berry buy the house at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. for his fledgling record company.
True to form, it was Edwards who was the toughest sell. She was skeptical of her younger brother's dream of a pop music empire, and had to be convinced he would pay the money back.
Edwards graduated from Cass Tech and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Wayne State. Her first marriage, to Robert Theron Bullock, produced her son Robert Berry Bullock. She married Michigan Rep. George Edwards in 1951, and has a stepson from that marriage, Judge Harry T. Edwards.
Her son Robert's daughter Robin Terry went to work at the museum under her grandmother. Today Terry is the Motown Historical Museum's chairman and executive director. When Edwards was honored by The Detroit News as a Michiganian of the Year in 2005, for her charitable achievements and stewardship of the Motown Historical Museum, Terry paid tribute to her grandmother's generosity. With Edwards, "It's always about, 'How do I create more opportunities for other people?"
Motown, of course, wasn't Edwards' only business interest. She served on the board of directors of the Bank of the Commonwealth and was active in many professional groups, and local charities. Upon Loucye Gordy's death in 1965, Edwards established a scholarship in her sister's name for underprivileged students. That led to the founding of the Gordy Foundation, which still funds scholarships for inner city youth.
Among many honors, Edwards received the Detroit Urban League's Distinguished Warriors Award, the National Community Service Award from the National Association of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., the Business Achievement Award from PUSH, a social justice movement founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, in addition to many others.
She was the first African-American appointed to Detroit's Recorder's Court Jury Commission and subsequently became its Chairman. She was also the first African-American woman to be elected a delegate-at-large for the state of Michigan, at the 1960 Democratic convention. She was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Phi Delta sororities, and a member of Bethel AME Church.
The Motown Historical Museum is Edwards' most lasting legacy. It was her cherished dream to transform Motown's West Grand Boulevard location into a museum, to welcome the many fans who traveled there from all corners of the world. She finally achieved that dream in the late 1980s. As the Gordy family "packrat," having squirreled away photos and memorabilia over the years, she was well positioned to do it.
"She preserved Motown memorabilia before it was memorabilia, collecting our history long before we knew we were making it," Berry Gordy Jr. said. "She nurtured and held it together through the years, protecting the Motown legacy for generations to come ? which is only one of the reasons people all over the world will remember and celebrate Esther Gordy Edwards."
"Tough" is a word that many Motown associates and friends use in describing Edwards, just as often they note her warmth and maternal attention.
Paul Barker was just 18 in 1988 when he talked Edwards into letting him hang out at Motown on his days off from work. He eventually became a tour guide, and the museum's first paid employee. That Edwards didn't bounce him from the premises amazes Barker to this day.
"Here's this woman who worked with some of the greatest people in popular culture, and yet she's nurturing you," Barker said. "She was tough, but she'd offer her experience to help you reach your full potential. She was just fantastic."
Edwards was the one sister who would tell her brother, the revered Motown founder, when she thought he was wrong.
"That's why he trusted her," said Barker. "She wasn't afraid to take an opposing opinion, even if everybody disagreed with her."
"She was definitely a pioneer," said Audley Smith, chief operating officer of the Motown Historical Museum.
"She embodied the idea of never giving up," Wonder said. "She was ever determined in everything she did, she was full of energy and her spirit will continue to live on. She loved the idea of what we were creating at Motown."
From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20110825...wards--?always-came-out-a-hero?#ixzz1W59atvGg