Russell A Hitt

Russell A. Hitt, who helped transform the family business into one of the nation's largest and most successful general contracting firms, died Sunday September 13 2020 at his Falls Church residence. The 85-year-old Arlington native is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joan; four children and 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, many of whom now work at Hitt Contracting Inc. The son of Warren and Myrtle Hitt, who founded the W.A. Hitt Decorating Co. in 1937, Russell Hitt helped to build Hitt Contracting from a small local business into the region's third-largest general contracting firm and among the top 100 in the nation. In addition to the large portfolio of impactful projects Hitt had a role in across Greater Washington, he was remembered for the commitment he displayed toward employees and clients, as well as for the philanthropy he and the HItt family showed toward various causes and institutions. Those included his alma matter, Washington & Lee High School, and to Virginia Tech, to which the Hitt family donated $5 million in 2016 to help train the "intelligent infrastructure" professionals of the future. He stayed on as chairman emeritus and watched the reins of Hitt Contracting pass on, first to co-presidents Brett Hitt and Jim Millar, and next to Kim Roy, who was named the company's first female chief executive in 2017.