John McMullan

MCMULLAN, John Francis

John Francis McMullan of Atlanta, Georgia, died from heart failure on January 8, 2025. The only son of Thomas Leverette and Pauline Little McMullan, he was born on April 22, 1936, in Covington, Georgia. When his older sister Jane discovered she had a new baby brother, she lamented, "I'd rather have a dog." The family moved to Athens, Georgia, in August 1941, when his father was appointed District Agent with the University of Georgia/U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service. While serving as a County Agent for several counties, his father was instrumental in introducing kudzu to the state of Georgia as a land restoration project, a fact his mother discouraged John from sharing! John attended Barrow Street Elementary, Childs Street Junior High, and Athens High School, from which he graduated in 1954. John was an avid Georgia Bulldog and received his accounting degree from the University of Georgia in 1958 and his Master's of Business Administration degree in 1960. He passed the CPA exam while still in graduate school. While at UGA, John was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and served as Consul for two terms. He was a member of Biftad, X Club, ODK, Phi Kappa Phi, Interfraternity Council, and Demosthenian Literary Society. He and a partner won the Freshman Impromptu Debate in the spring of 1955. John was later inducted into the Gridiron Secret Society. After graduation, John worked for Price Waterhouse & Company and taught at the University of South Florida and Georgia State University. In 1970, he started his CPA practice in Atlanta, which he sold in 1985. Then, John pursued various endeavors in the real estate sector and founded Camden Real Estate Company in 1990.

John met Marilyn Jane Memory in April 1958, and they were married on September 12, 1959, in Waycross, Georgia. They had four children-Jane Memory, Thomas Leverette "Tom," Anne Frances, and John Edward "Ted." John started walking in 1984 as he approached the age of the death of his father, who died when John was a senior in high school. A stellar mathematician, he kept a precise tally of his steps, saying, "I am an accountant, after all!" He walked in 47 states, 73 countries, and 928 cities, towns, and villages. John was a director of several public companies, including Concept, Inc., a medical device company in Clearwater, Florida. John also served on the boards of many private companies and not-for-profit enterprises, including Life Care Centers of America, Inc.; the Atlanta Neuroscience Institute; and the DeKalb County Pension Board, to which he was recently appointed to another four- year term! He was a Trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation, a Founding Trustee of the Arch Foundation for the University of Georgia and a Trustee and Emeritus Trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation after merging the two groups.

An avid reader, especially enjoying history, John served as a Curator of the Georgia Historical Society for several terms and was an Emeritus Trustee and member of the GHS Endowment Committee. John and Marilyn have made substantial gifts to numerous charities both inside and outside the state of Georgia. They have contributed to more varied campaigns at the University of Georgia than any other donor in the University's history, including most recently in furtherance of UGA's new Medical School, which John would strongly encourage others to support. Sigma Chi fraternity honored John as a "Significant Sig," awarded him a Grand Consuls Citation, and named him a member of the Lockwood Society of Giving. He was a long-time member of the American Numismatic Association and the George F. Heath Society. As a coin collector, John amassed a complete collection of gold coins minted at the Dahlonega. Mint in Georgia. He and Marilyn donated this collection to the University of Georgia, which is displayed in the Special Collections section of the Richard B. Russell Library.

John was a seventh-generation Georgian and was named John Francis McMullan IV. The McMullan forebears immigrated from Scotland to Ireland in the mid-to late-1600s. The original John McMullan immigrated from Ireland to the United States in the mid-1700s. He was a soldier in the American Revolution and ultimately received a land grant from the state of Georgia, where he settled in the 1790s. One of his many children was John Francis McMullan, John's direct ancestor.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Marilyn; son, Tom; son, Ted (Catherine); and their four children: Madeline, William, Jack, and Buckley, all of Atlanta.

A funeral service celebrating John's eventful life will be held at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church (3180 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta) on Saturday, January 18, at 1:00 PM, followed by a visitation in the church's Grace Fellowship Hall. Interment will be in the McMullan family mausoleum at Northview Cemetery in Hartwell, Georgia.

In lieu of flowers, donations are welcomed to the University of Georgia Foundation and Peachtree Road United Methodist Church. The family is deeply grateful for John's colleague and caretakers, Stephanie Deal, Susan Hollenback, Kenny Parks, Glenda Neese, and Wendy Kittrell, as well as for the compassionate care of McKoon Funeral Home.

Final note: For many years, John mused about what he would want his final epitaph to be. But this task would become challenging when, in 2021, with the help of UGA's Extension Service, John bought land and contributed it to Hartwell's Northview Cemetery so that a family mausoleum could be constructed along with multiple columbariums for other families to use. It's a beautiful structure, but there are no tombstones. If there were, John would have included: "I told you I was sick!" Dad died of a broken heart. And ours are broken, too. R.I.P., JFM, IV.

Condolences can be expressed to the family at www.mckoon.com

McKoon Funeral Home & Crematory, (770) 253-4580.