Dan Shepherd

News Obituary Article

ATLANTA: Dan Shepherd, 78, builder of highways

By KAY POWELL

Growing up on a farm on LaVista Road, Dan Shepherd's first experience with highway construction was tending the mules his father used to build roads.

The Georgia Tech graduate coupled that early experience with a loan from his mother and a partnership with his brothers to create a multimillion-dollar company, said Steve Shepherd of Atlanta, his son and the company's president. Shepherd Construction Co. has contracts of about $90 million a year, he said.

The funeral for Dan Plunkett Shepherd, 78, who died of cancer at his Atlanta residence Wednesday, will be 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Peachtree Presbyterian Church. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Shepherd was a backer of the family's Shepherd Center, which treats people with catastrophic injuries and illnesses, and of the Georgia Dome. He was one of 10 investors who put up $1 million to ensure construction of the dome, adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center.

That support was invaluable, said his friend John Aderhold of Atlanta, chairman of the Georgia World Congress Center when the Dome was proposed. Mr. Aderhold appreciated Mr. Shepherd's dedication to getting the job done, he said.

"He was very, very loyal to his friends," said Charles Loudermilk of Atlanta, founder and chairman of Aaron Rents. "He was a very giving person who constantly was thinking of what he could do for his friends."

Shepherd Construction fulfills contracts worldwide and has built thousands of miles of roads, Steve Shepherd said.

Recent metro Atlanta projects include the Kennedy Interchange off I-75 in Cobb County and HOV lanes on I-85 from Atlanta to Norcross.

In the 1980s, Mr. Shepherd's company came under scrutiny in a national bid-rigging investigation. In 1982, Mr. Shepherd and his brother, Harold Shepherd of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to federal bid-rigging charges. Shepherd Construction paid a $2.25 million state fine and $750,000 on the federal charges. Mr. Shepherd and his brother served two concurrent 90-day state and federal sentences in a halfway house.

"That was something he regretted," his son said.

Friends for 62 years, he and Mr. Shepherd rarely talked business, Mr. Aderhold said. On the first of each month, they played poker with other prominent figures including Mr. Loudermilk, Atlanta Falcons owner Rankin Smith Sr. and Peachtree Corners developer Paul Duke.

"It was penny-ante poker, and he didn't lose too often," Mr. Aderhold recalled. A congenial bunch, the poker players enjoyed annual hunting and fishing trips to Canada, the Bahamas, South America and Belgium.

"Dan contributed to the fun in my life," he said.

"He had a good balance in his life among family and business and playing," Mr. Loudermilk said.

Survivors include his wife, Olive Spears "Mickey" Shepherd; two stepsons, James Townshend Budd of Atlanta and William Mixon Budd of Macon; two other brothers, Charles R. Shepherd of Buford and W. Clyde Shepherd Jr. of Atlanta; a sister, Margaret Yates of Atlanta; and six grandchildren.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution