Jim Berry, chairman and CEO of Republic Parking, died Tuesday.Jim Berry was one of Chattanooga’s entrepreneurial success stories, former Mayor Ron Littlefield said Tuesday.
In a city intently trying to attract new people with novel business ideas, Berry built Republic Parking System from scratch into a far-flung venture generating $360 million a year in revenues and employing 2,600 people worldwide.
“He was one of those rare individuals who created something you could see in other cities,” Littlefield said. “I always liked to tell mayors and other city leaders when I visited that Republic Parking System was a Chattanooga company.”
Berry, 82, died Tuesday morning at his Georgetown, Tenn., residence.
Much of Republic’s business focuses on airport parking, a sector on which the company was built 47 years ago with a three-person staff sporting the name Air Terminal Parking.