Friends remember ‘strong-willed’ Russell

Robert “Bob” Russell was remembered Wednesday as a man who ran his business ethically and well and died doing what he loved best – flying.

Russell, 85 and the founder the titan South Carolina real estate company Russell & Jeffcoat , was killed Saturday when the Experimental BR Legend plane he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff from Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The former military and stunt pilot reported having engine trouble and was trying to return to the airport when he crashed into a pond about a mile west of the runway.

Rev. David Cozad, who delivered the meditation to a packed house at Shandon Presbyterian Church, said Russell was flying to his vacation home at Lake Junaluska, N.C., where he spent most weekends. He called the mountainous resort area near Asheville “his church.”

“So we can say that Bob died on the way to church,” Cozad said.

Also killed was his dog, Rambo, which he accepted reluctantly from his wife, Patty. But he came to love the dog, Cozad said, and it frequently flew with him. Cozad noted that he had never seen the dog, but assumed it would have some stature given the name. “So imagine my surprise when I saw a picture of Bob walking what a appeared to be a leash ... with a little fur at the end,” he said.

Russell started the company from scratch in 1965 with an idea and hard work. His partner, Abb Jeffcoat, joined the firm a little later. He died in 2011.

Russell & Jeffcoat, which now has 450 agents and 12 offices in the states, had planned a 50-year anniversary party for later this month.

“Bob has been described as strong-willed and passionate,” Cozad said. “ He had a legendary will for things to be done right, to be done ethically.”

Russell also was remembered for his love of golf. At 85, he could still shoot in the 70s, and met frequently with instructor to continue to work on his swing. He had five holes-in-one during his life.

Russell also appeared on local stages, primarily at Town Theatre, in the 1980s and 1990s. And he wrote two motivational books.

A member of the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame and once considered one of the best stunt pilots in America, Russell had logged an estimated 8,000 flight hours.

His passion for flying began in 1952, when he entered the U.S. Air Force. After his discharge he joined the S.C. Air National Guard and piloted a wide variety of Cold War-era fighter jets: F-94s, F-80s, F-86s, F-104s and F-102s.

The program at Wednesday’s service contained the famous aviation poem by John Gillespie Magee, “High Flight.”

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth,” it reads. “To touch the face of God.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Friends remember ‘strong-willed’ Russell."