Dr. Richard Moore Gannaway

Dr. Richard Moore Gannaway

Nashville, TN

Age 89. Died Monday, November 21, 2016, from complications of Parkinson's disease.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Nunn and Marie Gott Gannaway of Murfreesboro, TN, and his sister, Mary Jean Page of Davidson, NC. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joann Pickering Gannaway; children Dianne Green and Lisa Pierce of Nashville, Richard, Jr. of Atlanta, and Deborah Hamilton of Houston, TX; sons-in-law Wesley Green and Dr. Marc Hamilton; and 10 grandchildren.

A native of Murfreesboro, Dr. Gannaway graduated from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he played on Mid-South Championship teams in three sports and was the only first-year man ever to captain a team. Following graduation, he joined the U. S. Navy, was named the Honor Man in his recruit company and served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. He later received a direct commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant commander.

He earned a B.A. at Vanderbilt University, where he was a member of the freshman basketball team, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and president of the Intramural Athletic Board. After graduation, he worked for JP Morgan and Co. in New York before joining First American National Bank in Nashville. In 1957 he received a master's degree from Vanderbilt and joined the faculty of Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, where he held teaching and administrative positions. He earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of South Carolina in 1967 and later was elected president of the South Carolina Historical Association.

Dr. Gannaway was named Director (Dean) of the University of South Carolina-Lancaster in 1972, and under his leadership the campus saw considerable growth. In 1977, he was recruited to be president of Tri-County Publishing Company, publisher of the Lancaster News, the largest non-daily newspaper in South Carolina at the time, and the Chester News and Reporter. A graduate of Leadership South Carolina, he was an elder of First Presbyterian Church and a board member of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Elliott White Springs Memorial Hospital, the Rotary Club, Lancaster County Educational Foundation, Lancaster County Commission for Higher Education and numerous other community organizations. He retired in 1993 and returned to Nashville, where he was active in the Seekers and Oxford Sunday School classes at Belle Meade United Methodist Church and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt.

A graveside service will be held on December 3 at 2 p.m. at Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Harry Nunn and Marie Gott Gannaway Nursing Scholarship at Middle Tennessee State University, P.O. Box 109, Murfreesboro, TN 37132 or the AD Nursing Program at USC-Lancaster, P.O. Box 889, Lancaster, SC 29721. Online guest book at www. CallNFC.com