Milton Bevington

Family-Placed Death Notice

BEVINGTON, Milton E. MILTON BEVINGTON Edmund Milton Bevington died on May 20, 2010. The youngest son of Mary Catherine Halloran and John Laurence Bevington, he was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 31, 1928. His siblings John, Richard and Mary Leyden (an infant) predeceased him. His brother, the Reverend William Stock Bevington, a priest of the Nashville diocese, survives. Milton married Betsy Rickey in 1951. They welcomed three sons before her tragic death in 1962 in the Air France crash at Orly Field. He married Paula Lawton in 1965, becoming the father of four more sons and a daughter. His wife and seven of his children survive: Milton, Jr. (Nancy Hayes), Rickey (Robin Hall), George, Mary-Laurence, Christian (Tracy Kovacs), Charles and Justin (Tracy Hollink). His son Peter died in 2003. Ten grandchildren and one great-grandson also survive. Milton graduated from MIT at the top of his class at age twenty. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School. After sojourns at Dewey & Almy in Cambridge and Westinghouse's air conditioning division in Staunton, Virginia, he became Georgia agent for The Trane Company in Atlanta in 1959. By 1970, Atlanta was Trane's largest sales operation worldwide, prompting Trane to invite him to the Wisconsin headquarters to inaugurate their Consumer Products Division. Mission accomplished, he left Trane with the rank of Executive Vice President. In 1974, he founded Servidyne Incorporated, a compressor remanufacturer that evolved into an energy engineering company operating nationwide and internationally, pioneering energy conservation strategies before environmental stewardship had become a global priority. He sold Servidyne in 2001, afterwards offering energy consulting services to building owners. In 2008, he and Paula formed Bevington Advisors, LLC, a philanthropic consultancy. Milton was an active alumnus of Canterbury School, MIT and Harvard, serving on multiple committees over the years. In 1985-86, he was national president of the MIT Alumni/ae Association. He was a member of the MIT Corporation from 1985 to 1991. MIT awarded him the Bronze Beaver in 1983. His other volunteer service spanned decades and embraced many organizations, including the Boy Scouts (president, Atlanta Area Council, recipient of the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope awards), the Georgia Conservancy (two term president) and the President's Circle of the National Academy of Sciences, among others. Named a Community Hero, he was a torchbearer on Opening Day of the 1996 Centennial Olympics. He held a thirty-two year record of perfect attendance with the Rotary Club of Atlanta, He served on several corporate boards. Entrepreneur, thinker, responsible activist, friend and revered mentor to many, Milton used his multiple gifts with discipline and generosity. Throughout his life, he gave highest priority to his Catholic faith and his family, enduring adversity gallantly and rejoicing gratefully in good fortune. Milton donated his body to Emory Medical School. His memorial service will be held on June 4, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to Hospice Atlanta, 1244 Park Vista Drive, Atlanta 30319, or to Georgia Conservancy, 817 West Peachtree Street, Suite 200, Atlanta 30308. The family wishes especially to thank Jarvis Kirkland for his compassionate care of Milton.