Inaugural Green Day Recipient Passes Away

Max Heller, an Austrian immigrant who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager and a former mayor who drew some of the first strokes in downtown Greenville's rebirth, died Monday.

He was 92.

He was a textile businessman, a state leader who helped open the doors to international business, a politician with an eye for urban flourishes and a champion for the needy.

A slight man who could properly wear a double-breasted suit, Heller was among the earliest city officials to see sidewalk tables, public gardens and pedestrian life for Greenville's once-dead urban core.

Greenville leaders credited him Monday with forging some of the city's modern trademarks that rippled across the state - public-private projects, downtown redevelopment, attention to detail on streets and sidewalks and an affinity for green space.

He was a "true warrior" for the city and later as a top state development official, said former Lt. Gov. Nick Theodore, who met Heller in the 1940s.

He was one of those people, said former City Manager John Dullea, who had so much charisma it seemed he could relate to anyone.

"He was a non-exclusive personality, and that has become increasingly rare over the last 10 to 15 years," said Hayne Hipp, a private investor and former chief executive of the Liberty Corp. in Greenville who served with Heller on the State Development Board.

Heller's was a prodigious mind full of ideas and extremely good at math, said businesswoman Pat Haskell-Robinson, who served six years on City Council with him.

"We often accused him of talking at length," she said.

Crucial ideas in building a tight-knit downtown, such as the narrowing of Main Street from four lanes to two, came from Heller, said attorney Tommy Wyche, who worked with him on the early plans.

Former Gov. Dick Riley, who appointed Heller to the development board, a precursor to today's Commerce Department, said Heller's familiarity with European leaders helped diversify the state's economy and give it today's international flavor.

Gov. Nikki Haley said, "Max Heller's hard work and sacrifice, both in business and public service, helped Greenville grow and should serve as an example to all."

Heller fled Vienna as a 19-year-old as the swastikas multiplied.

Former Mayor Bill Workman said Heller's experiences as a young man commanded attention.

"He had some background that made him worth listening to in the first place," Workman said. "And he coupled that with the ability to listen to others and from them elicit the best they had to offer."

In his early years, Heller worked 70 to 80 hours per week in a shirt factory.

Theodore's father, a Greek immigrant, had a café on West Washington Street, and Heller's friend owned an adjacent store. As first impressions go, it was Heller's sharp style of dress that first impressed Theodore.

The 60s brought some of his civic energies to light, and he helped push a law that established a youthful offender camp in Greenville County. He joined City Council in 1969 and became mayor in 1971.

When Heller told his friends of his intent to campaign for council, Theodore said they encouraged him to do so, but one spoke up and told him his first order of business was to cut his hair.

Heller liked to wear it long and wavy in the back, a style not suited to the buttoned-up world of politics. Heller said the change would be hard, Theodore said, but that he could manage it.

In later years, the tendency returned, and Heller's hair became a lengthy white fringe.

Heller's causes included desegregation, youth and development in poor areas.

Current Mayor Knox White, who chaired the city's youth commission at the time, said downtown was dead, and he couldn't conceive of today's attractive landscape. Heller, White said, gave him his early example of community leadership.

Heller was a driving force behind the creation of the Hyatt Regency on Main Street.

The hotel was the first of many anchor projects on Main that involved both public funding and private development, Haskell-Robinson said.

The idea, White said, was that government wasn't going to sit back and let development happen.

Theodore said downtown is the fruit of the "big three" city visionaries, describing a partnership of Heller's public role, Wyche's legal and civic position and Buck Mickel's business leadership.

When the businesses on Main feared narrower streets would hurt them, Heller visited them individually - but "he made it clear we were going ahead with it," Haskell-Robinson said.

"I always wanted a people's place," Heller said in 2009.

Later, when Heller joined the development board, Theodore said he rejected the traditionally part-time approach, moving to Columbia in a full-time effort.

Hipp said, "I distinctly remember while Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Spartanburg always dominated, he was continually reaching out to the small and medium-sized cities - the Andersons, the Florences, the Aikens - to be, again, inclusive as opposed to 'let's put all of our resources, all of our money, all of our power into this one area.' "

Heller's political career ended when he lost a congressional race to Carroll Campbell.

At Furman, where Heller served on the board of trustees, he also helped shape the early days of what is now named the Heller Service Corps, promoting volunteerism before it was popular among college students, said Andrew Barnhill, a former director of the corps.

In recent years, Heller would call and ask for a rundown of the projects, Barnhill said. He seemed to especially care for people with disabilities and would attend a Valentine's Day dance for exceptional adults, he said.

Furman President Rod Smolla said Monday, "Max Heller had a long and productive history with both Greenville and Furman, and each became a better place because of its association with him."

White said most of his conversations with Heller in recent years still centered on city details - the design of Court Street, the specific choices in city landscaping.

Not many people know it, but Dullea said Heller also made Haywood Mall possible when he made friends with a development group while on vacation in Florida and convinced them to buy the property for a mall in Greenville.

Hipp said, "He was truly a renaissance person."

Heller's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Congregation Beth Israel, where he was a longtime member.