Hotel management firm McNeill Hotel Co. and the McNeill Family have announced the death of industry pioneer Phillip H. McNeill, Sr., at the age of 87.
McNeill, Sr. was one of the early investors in major hotel brand franchising, having opened the second Hampton Inn located in Little Rock, Ark., in 1984. He further founded and served in multiple leadership roles with Equity Inns, a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust, which grew from 8 hotels valued at $40 million to a portfolio of 138 hotels, which was sold to a real estate fund of Goldman Sachs for $2.2 billion.
During his career, McNeill, Sr. also served as chairman and president of Germantown, Tenn.-based McNeill Investment Company; as president and CEO of Schumacher Mortgage Company, Inc., a mortgage banking firm and subsidiary of Time, Inc.; as president and director of the Memphis Mortgage Bankers Association and the Tennessee State Mortgage Bankers Association.