The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Clytie Bunyan column: Search for details on businessman finds Oklahoma link [The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City]

May 30--The late House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill's famous aphorism "All Politics Is Local" is a mindset that's also common in the news business, so we're constantly looking for Oklahoma ties to people and events elsewhere.

Last week I stumbled across one after seeing a familiar name. Had I not pursued it more, I would have remained ignorant of this piece of American history.

He was one of this country's notable entrepreneurs, but most Americans probably never heard of him.

Still, for many, Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. has been as essential to the fabric of the American dream as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

He rose from poverty to become a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and, after serving in World War II, joined a sausage company in Baltimore that became well-known for its advertisements in the Northeast.

Haysbert, who was 90 when he died Monday, became chairman of the company and in 1969 led Parks Sausage Co. to become the first black-owned business in the U.S. to go public.

The company in the 1990s was sold out of bankruptcy, but Haysbert continued to inspire and encourage others to become entrepreneurs and pursue civic service.

The Oklahoma connection here is at Langston University.

President JoAnn Haysbert's father-in-law was Raymond Haysbert's brother.

"Uncle Raymond," as JoAnn Haysbert calls him, was quite an entrepreneur, public servant and a gentleman, she said.

That's the same family that also produced Dennis Haysbert, JoAnn's brother-in-law and well-known star of TV's "The Unit," "24" and those Allstate insurance commercials.

To see more of The Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.