Harvey C. Russell Jr., a retired Pepsico executive who was the first black man to become a vice president at a major American corporation, died on Feb. 20 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx.
He was 79 years old and had homes in Crestwood, N.Y., and Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
The immediate cause of death was heart failure, said his wife, Jacqueline D. Russell, although Mr. Russell had been suffering from prostate cancer.
Born in Louisville, Ky., where his father was a college professor and his mother taught in a local high school, Mr. Russell joined the Coast Guard during World War II, where he became one of the first black deck officers in the Coast Guard's history, even though he had been told, upon enlisting, that there was no chance he would achieve that position. From there he joined a Manhattan advertising firm, in a job that paid literally nothing until the agency's owner developed a soft drink called Joe Louis Punch and hired Mr. Russell to be in charge of marketing.
Despite its winning name, Joe Louis Punch did not succeed with American consumers. By 1950, Mr. Russell had joined Pepsi in a department then known as ''Negro sales.'' By 1958 he had been named manager of Pepsi's ethnic marketing department, which by then also concentrated on Hispanic consumers.
When he was promoted to vice president in 1962, Mr. Russell was showered with congratulations. Ebony magazine declared he was the first person of his race to advance so far at an American corporation.
Characteristically low key, he insisted that others at black-owned companies were higher ranking than he, and had worked harder. ''I may be the vice president of a large corporation,'' he told an interviewer in 1962, ''but there are Negroes who have built up successful businesses under the most difficult conditions. For me to be selected over these men who overcame much greater odds doesn't make sense.''
When he retired from Pepsi in 1983, Mr. Russell was vice president of community affairs, responsible for community relations and public relations.
He was a longtime board member of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., and helped develop the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. In 1964, he was chairman of the Interracial Council for Business Opportunities with Rodman Rockefeller, son of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Russell is survived by two sisters, Bessie Stone of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dr. Randa Russell of Greensboro, N.C.; his daughter, Denise Jones of San Antonio,; two sons, John V., of Jersey City, and Harvey D., of Falmouth, Mass., and two grandchildren.