Charles Brady

1935 - 2019

BRADY, Charles W. Age 84, passed away peacefully on Dec. 7, 2019 in his beloved Atlanta. A native of Atlanta, he was born on May 11, 1935, the only child of Clark B. and Ann (n?e Turner) Brady. His father having fallen ill when Charlie was only 10 years old, he bore more responsibility than most of his peers. After attending Hoke Smith High School, he worked as a butcher at a local grocery store to help make ends meet. In 1957, Charlie graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology and then served two years in the United States Navy as a Reserve Officer based in the Mediterranean. Thereafter, he joined the stock brokerage firm Goodbody & Company (later acquired by Merrill Lynch). In 1964, he was hired by Mills B. Lane, Jr., the Chairman of Citizens & Southern National Bank (C&S), his great mentor, who later sent him to study at Harvard University's Advanced Management School. A visionary in the investment management field, Charlie persuaded the Bank to establish C&S Investment Counseling, the first bank-owned investment management firm in the U.S., which he thereafter acquired from the Bank and, in 1979, he and eight other former C&S investment professionals founded Invesco, Inc. Starting with $400 million of assets from U.S. institutional clients outside the Southeast, today Invesco has nearly 9,000 employees in 25 countries and manages more than $1.1 trillion in assets. Charlie was a strong and inspirational leader, whose employees were devoted to him. Charlie was a quiet philanthropist, having donated the Invesco Chair in International Finance at Georgia Tech's College of Management. He also received many prestigious awards, including the Georgia Tech Alumni Distinguished Service Award, and was inducted into the Georgia State J. Mack Robinson College of Business Hall of Fame as well as Georgia Tech's College of Management Hall of Fame. He was also an Ignites Mutual Fund Titan and served as a member of the Board of Councilors for the Carter Center, a Trustee Emeritus of the Georgia Tech Foundation and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the National Bureau of Asian Research. An elegant and worldly man, Charlie was a history buff and an avid traveler who loved spending time in favorite U.S. and foreign cities: New York, Aspen, London, Paris, Rome and Hong Kong. He was also a wine enthusiast, a sports aficionado whose interests ranged from football to Formula One to the Kentucky Derby, and a lover of good cigars and of aged scotch. Charlie is survived by his beloved wife Nina Lesavoy Brady and his treasured children and grandchildren: his son and daughter-in-law C. Allen and Lyn Brady, his daughter Merrill Brady and her partner Rip Rogers, and his grandchildren, Ava Hannon, Peyton Brady, Ann Brady, Conner James, and Chandler James. A true Southern gentleman, Charlie was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, mentor and friend, who will be forever loved and greatly missed. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts for support of the Charles W. Brady Scholarship Endowment Fund may be directed to the Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc., 760 Spring Street, NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30308. A Celebration of Life is planned for 2 PM on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, at The Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech, 875 West Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30309.