J.B. Fuqua

News Obituary Article

J.B. FUQUA, 1918-2006: A giant with global mindset, friends say

By MARIA SAPORTA

Many of Atlanta's top business and civic leaders on Thursday expressed sorrow for J.B. Fuqua's death and great appreciation for his life.

"I admire everything I saw him do," said Neville Isdell, CEO of Coca-Cola Co. "He was someone who clearly gave back to the community. It wasn't just about success. It was about giving back."

Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, spoke of the contributions Fuqua had made over several decades.

"He was a giant among Atlanta's business leaders because of his philanthropy and his entrepreneurship and his venture capital investments," Williams said, adding that he would see Fuqua having lunch at the now-closed Herron's restaurant where he would thumb through corporate annual reports as though he was reading a news magazine.

As much as Fuqua did in the Atlanta community, Williams said it is important that he also had a global mindset.

"He was international before it was cool," Williams said. "He's the one who brought Russian bureaucrats to Duke University to learn Western business practices, and that was 25 years ago."

Gwinnett developer Wayne Mason had gotten to know Fuqua through Democratic political circles. "He was a great guy," Mason said. "Plus he was a great Democrat, and there aren't many of us left."

Builder Michael Russell said of Fuqua: "His name is synonymous with generosity in this city. Fortunately I think Rex [Fuqua's son] will continue to be a major force in this community."

Developer John Aderhold remembered making a cold call on Fuqua to ask him to contribute $100,000 in a private venture to build a new dome for the Atlanta Falcons. The conversation lasted two to three minutes during which Fuqua asked whether he'd have to go to football games.

When Aderhold told him no, he agreed to make the gift.

"He didn't know me from Adam," Aderhold said. "From that point, we got to be good friends."

Fuqua was a private person, yet his inner circle included many of the top leaders in the nation.

"J.B. was a very good friend of mine and I will miss him," media mogul Ted Turner said through a spokesman. "This is a great personal loss to us all."

One of Fuqua's closest friends was Tom Johnson, the retired chairman of the CNN News Group. "He was my friend since I was a student at the University of Georgia," Johnson said. "J.B. Fuqua was a man who not only achieved and lived the American dream, but to his everlasting glory."

Johnson and Fuqua also shared a common illness --- depression. Fuqua described his experiences with depression in his autobiography. Johnson provided the forward disclosing his own struggles.

Both men agreed to talk about their own experiences after Atlanta businessman Larry Gellerstedt III publicly disclosed how he had battled the disease.

Gellerstedt said that having Fuqua go public --- given his generation, his stature in the business community and his contributions --- helped change people's attitudes on how depression is viewed.

"It took a lot of vision, and it took a lot of courage," Gellerstedt said. "There's one paragraph in his book about depression that brought me to tears because it is the most personal description of what it feels like that I've read."

Staff writer Robert Luke contributed to this article.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution