William Bryan

Family-Placed Death Notice

William Wright Bryan, Junior, a fifth-generation Atlanta native, died quietly at home on Friday, January 6, 2006. His maternal great-grandfather was Judge George Hillyer, Mayor of Atlanta, and his maternal great-great grandfather was Alfred Holt Colquitt, U.S. Senator and Governor of Georgia. His paternal great-grandfather was General William Ambrose Wright, for fifty years Comptroller of the State of Georgia. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ellen Hillyer Newell Bryan and William Wright Bryan of Atlanta and Clemson, South Carolina. His father was editor of the Atlanta Journal and later the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mr. Bryan was born at old Piedmont Hospital on September 14, 1940. Billy, as he was called, graduated from E. Rivers Elementary School and attended the Westminster Schools. When his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, he attended Shaker Heights High School and graduated from the Northwood School, Lake Placid, New York. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, majoring in history. After graduation, he was a reporter for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. At the same time, he published and edited his own weekly newspaper, the Vieux Carre Courier. In New Orleans, through a family friend, he met and married in June 1968, Patricia McGinnis Kelly. Their son, William Wright Bryan III was born in New orleans. From New orleans, the Bryans moved to Augusta, Georgia, where he was an award-winning reporter for the Augusta Herald. He covered many beats, including Jimmy Carter's campaign for Governor. The family then moved to Key West, Florida, where they restored a Conch house. Mr. Bryan returned to Atlanta with his family in 1977. Always a bibliophile, he opened Exploring Books, a bookshop, first at the R.L. Hope School on Piedmont Road and then at Rhodes Plaza on Peachtree Street. He had retired on his 65th birthday. He had a notable personal library covering history, politics and first-person accounts of exploration. Some years after he closed up shop, he became a favorite longtime bookseller at Oxford Books, Oxford Too, and Borders in Buckhead. Mr. Bryan was a longtime communicant at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta. He was introduced to the church by his aunt and uncle, Ann Lane Newell and Robert Whatley. He was a volunteer in the youth program, a lay reader, and a member of activist groups in the church. He celebrated a final service at St. Luke's with his niece, Keeley Sullivan Jurgovan, and his two great-nephews, Jack and Henry Jurgovan, at Epiphany. Mr. Bryan had a passion for sports and the outdoors. He was a dedicated environmentalist. He was a devoted fan of the sports teams at Clemson University and Georgia Tech, and the Atlanta Braves. He even rooted for his alma matter, Vanderbilt. He spent many happy days on the Georgia coast, mostly at his family's home on Sea Island. Mr. Bryan was a son of the state of Georgia and loved all of it, from Rome in the north to Peachtree Road to the Golden Isles. Mr. Bryan is survived by his son, William Wright Bryan III, his daughter in law, Amy Kathleen Sherow Bryan and his grandson William Wright Bryan IV, all of Washington, D.C. He is also survived by his sisters, Ellen Newell Bryan Tozzer of Atlanta and Mary Lane Bryan Sullivan of Cleveland, Ohio, as well as three nephews and two nieces and countless cousins. Funeral services will be celebrated at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. A private burial will follow at Historic Oakland Cemetery. Following the burial, friends are invited to call at the home of Newell Bryan Tozzer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to: St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA. 30308. The Altamaha River Keeper, P.O. Box 2642, Darien, GA. 31305. Arrangements by H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel, 1020 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, GA. 30309. 404-876-1022.