Phillip Martin | Choctaw chief, 83
Phillip Martin, 83, a longtime chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, died Thursday at a Jackson, Miss., hospital after suffering a stroke a few days earlier, said his niece, Natasha Phillips.
Phillip Martin, 83, a longtime chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, died Thursday at a Jackson, Miss., hospital after suffering a stroke a few days earlier, said his niece, Natasha Phillips.
Mr. Martin's 28-year tenure saw the construction of an industrial park and the $750 million Pearl River Resort, complete with two casinos, a golf club, and a water park, on tribal land in rural east-central Mississippi. He also set up a scholarship that pays 100 percent of college costs for tribal youth.
Elected chief in 1979, Mr. Martin promoted economic development long before the casinos opened. In 1981, he persuaded his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss., to issue bonds to lure American Greetings to an industrial park on the Pearl River Reservation.
- AP