Ex-Choctaw chief remembered as ‘visionary’ who led tribe from poverty with 2 Miss. casinos

‘Visionary’ ex-Miss. Choctaw chief Martin dies

JACKSON, Miss. — Phillip Martin, a longtime chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, was remembered Friday as a visionary who lifted the tribe from stifling poverty with casinos and other businesses.

Martin died Thursday night at a Jackson hospital with his family by his side after suffering a massive stroke a few days earlier, said his niece, Natasha Phillips. He was 83.

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, about 65 miles northeast of Jackson. He was praised for creating thousands of jobs. He also set up a scholarship that pays 100 percent of college costs for tribal youth.

“He was a great man and a visionary leader … He transformed the economy of our Tribe and with it the fate of our people,” said Miko Beasley Denson, the current chief who defeated Martin in 2007.

Gov. Haley Barbour also praised Martin’s leadership.

“His attention to economic development while preserving the cultural aspects of Native American life in Mississippi will be long remembered,” Barbour said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said Martin “inspired his people” and “created hope and opportunity for Mississippi Choctaws.”

First elected chief in 1979, 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. The operation employed 150-250 people at its peak.

Martin’s influence reached beyond Mississippi. He was the first president of the Board of Regents of Haskell Indian Junior College, now Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence Kan. He also served as president of the National Tribal Chairmen’s Association and president of United South and Eastern Tribes Inc.

In later years as chief, he faced criticism over not having enough tribal members in upper-level management positions, a long wait for new housing and assertions that tribal schools couldn’t compete with the nearby public school system.

Critics also questioned the viability of placing the tribe’s two casinos across the street from one another in Neshoba County — the Silver Star casino opened in 1994; the Golden Moon opened in 2002. The weak economy forced the Golden Moon in January 2009 to eliminate hundreds of nontribal jobs and cut operations to three days a week.

Martin spent a decade in the U.S. Air Force, and began a career in tribal leadership in 1957. He was married to Bonnie Kate Bell, a former Indian princess who retired after 52 years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The couple had recently celebrated their 54th anniversary.

Other survivors include two daughters, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Funeral services are pending.