Before QuickTrip, there was “Pot O’ Gold”

Joseph Orr, 88, investor who ran ‘Pot O’ Gold’

By Rick Badie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Before QuickTrip, there was “Pot O’ Gold.”

The “O” stood for Joseph Orr, an Atlanta native who was an investor and a member of the board of directors for the Atlanta-based convenience store chain.

After one partner died and the other sold his stake, Mr. Orr ran things. He eventually sold the stores to Magic Market.

Pot O’ Gold was one of many business ventures set forth by Mr. Orr.

He ran a manufacturing company on Pryor Road that produced Margold Margarine. He started that business from the ground up and occasionally worked on its assembly line.

The margarine was carried by A&P and Winn Dixie among others, said his son, Lawrence Cameron Orr of Atlanta. He ran it for 30 years before it was sold.

“He also ran Capital Cab Co. and at one time had about 100 cabs,” his son said. “But he got off that quick. Too shyster of a business. I think he enjoyed the margarine business the most.”

Joseph Kyle “Joe” Orr III, 88, of Atlanta died Saturday of complications from a congenital heart condition at Piedmont Hospital.

The graveside service will be 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta.

A memorial service and reception will follow at 11 a.m. at North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. H.M. Patterson, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Orr was born at the corner of 14th and Peachtree streets in a house owned by his paternal grandparents. He graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. He attended the Darlington School in Rome and the University of North Carolina.

After a stint in the Army, he turned his attention to business as investor as well as owner/operator.

Another son, Joseph Kyle Orr IV of Smryna, said you would have never known Mr. Orr had been a successful entrepreneur if you’d met him. He wasn’t flashy. Just low-key.

“He wasn’t one of the types who was showy and ostentatious,” his son said. “He did some other things, too. He ran a packaging business for a while, and sold grease-proof paper [to margarine manufacturers]. He sold more of that kind of paper than anyone because he had been in the [margarine] business and knew everybody. I think he was smart.”

When it came to hobbies, Mr. Orr enjoyed quail hunting in Camilla in South Georgia. He also loved deep-sea fishing. Favorite locales were Marathon, Fla., and the Bimini Island in the Bahamas, which is known for big-game fishing.

“He taught me to fish in the Gulf Stream,” said his son, Joseph Orr. “One year in Bimini he won the big-game tournament for marlin. All of this was in the 1950s and 1960s.”

Additional survivors include his wife, Cornelia Cameron Orr of Atlanta; a sister, Caroline Orr James of Darlington, S.C.; two stepsons, David Sasseman of Cumming and James Sasseman of Powder Springs; and five grandchildren.