TOM GAY at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills in Atlanta, Where He Worked for Five Years

THE IMPACT OF GIVING A LIFETIME OF GIVING Faithful alumnus makes a $2 million estate commitment to endow a chair in ISyE.

Few Georgia Tech alumni can boast a relationship His recent estate commitment to Georgia Tech, to with the Institute that is as long and strong as John establish a chair in the School of Industrial Systems and Weitnauer’s. Engineering, is one more way to give back to a school As a Decatur boy, Weitnauer volunteered in the Army that he feels has given him so much. Air Force in 1943, but was not called up until 1944. “Chairs enhance the reputation of Georgia Tech and Between 1943 and 1944, he attended Georgia Tech. help the school attract and retain distinguished faculty,” After the war ended, Weitnauer returned home — and he said. “And that’s going to have a positive impact on to Georgia Tech, graduating in 1949. A year later, after the students.” graduation, he began working as an industrial engineer TOM GAY at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills in Atlanta, where he worked for five years. Keeping a Promise, Leaving a Legacy A mimeographed sheet of job postings, courtesy of One of Weitnauer’s the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, led Weitnauer to “That was an important outgrowth of my Georgia Tech hobbies — to “keep Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta and a rising career, When the G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Scholarship Program was experience,” he recalls. “All those things I did required me out of trouble,” he says — is turning which would culminate in his position as executive vice established in 2007, Tom Gay, IM 1966, was among the first wave of donors to that I form study habits, schedule my time, and manage wooden bowls, which is president. Weitnauer’s career trajectory then took him step up with a gift to get the program off the ground, creating the L. Thomas extracurricular activities. They helped me mature, also a fitting metaphor to Richway Discount Stores, a chain of 31 stores in the DEDICATED SERVICE Gay Georgia Tech Promise Endowment. helped me acquire skills beyond academics, and taught for turning out a Southeast, where he retired 30 years later as chairman. me self-discipline.” Georgia Tech student. Retirement, for Weitnauer, has been more about DISTINGUISHED HISTORY Now, he is adding to his endowment fund with a Under his leadership, his eponymous construction “A piece of wood is like committee and board chairs than rocking chairs. John Weitnauer, IE 1949 significant estate commitment, ensuring that even more company, founded by his father, Logan T. Gay Sr., a person,” he points Both before and after retirement, Weitnauer’s Georgia scholars will have the opportunity to obtain a Class of 1941, has built a long-standing reputation out. “When you first accomplishments include: debt-free Georgia Tech education regardless of their for excellence and has won numerous awards for its see them, you don’t SERVICE really know what’s on •Director and chairman of the Federal Reserve family’s financial circumstances. sustainable LEED-certified projects as well as historic the inside. Then you Bank of Atlanta Member, Presidential Search “I have seen the value of a Georgia Tech education,” preservations. Gay also builds community through gifts start working with them •General campaign chairman and president Committee for G. Wayne Clough says Gay, who has been president of Gay Construction and service to cultural, medical, religious, and civic and soon you find out of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta Georgia Tech Foundation Board Company for more than 40 years. “I’ve seen the value organizations. He has received the Global Community what’s on the inside, Chairman of Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter for myself and countless other friends and alumni, and I Service Award from Villa International Atlanta and the what the color really • of Trustees (Past President) of American Red Cross want to do all I can to make sure that others will have the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America. is and the grain, and ISyE Advisory Board what’s going to happen •Served on the Boards of Columbia Theological same opportunity in the future.” Scholarship support for deserving students is more with that person or Seminary and Agnes Scott College Vice Chairman of the Georgia Tech The students that Gay supports through Tech Promise important than ever, Gay points out, now that rising Centennial Campaign that piece of wood.” “I’ve also served on several business boards, including might have the opportunity, like he did, to be involved in costs are pricing more and more families out of the life- the John H. Harland Co., where I was interim chairman — the Student Government Association, join a fraternity, changing advantages of higher education in general and and CEO,” Weitnauer said. GIVING or participate in the Navy ROTC program. In fact, he has Georgia Tech in particular. Through the years, Weitnauer’s connection to Georgia never forgotten that a Navy ROTC scholarship enabled “Tech Promise is a wonderful legacy we can leave Founders’ Samuel Inman Club Tech grew stronger. He met the loves of his life through him to attend Georgia Tech. After graduation Gay went that will enable future generations to also have these Georgia tech connections: Peggy, his first wife, from President’s Marion L. Brittain Club on to receive a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, opportunities,” he says. “It’s a great way to acknowledge whom he was widowed after 49 years of marriage, and The Hill Society where he served for four years. the impact that Georgia Tech has had on our lives.” June, from whom he was widowed after 16 years of John H. Weitnauer Jr. Technology Transfer marriage. He still gets together regularly with lifelong Chair and GRA Eminent Scholar friends from his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega and Georgia Margaret P. and John H. Weitnauer Jr. Tech. And he has given his time and energy in a number In recognition of his generous philanthropy to Georgia Tech, L. Thomas Gay, IM 1966, is a Faculty Chair, ISyE of capacities as an active alumnus and received many member of Georgia Tech’s Hill Society. He has also provided invaluable volunteer service to the distinguished awards from the Institute (see sidebar). — Institute as a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees; the Alumni Association Board of Trustees; his 50th, 40th, and 25th Reunion Committees; the Ernest Scheller Jr. College “Someone told me that as emeriti, you can’t AWARDS of Business Advisory Board; and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund Board. He is a recipient of the participate in the discussions, but you can still come to J.M. Pettit Distinguished Service Award Joseph M. Pettit Distinguished Service Award — the highest award given to alumni by the the meetings and eat and drink all you want — I don’t Georgia Tech Alumni Association. think I have missed a meeting since,” Weitnauer said, Engineering Hall of Fame, 1994 with a laugh. ISyE Academy of Distinguished Alumni

PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2018 PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2018 THE IMPACT OF GIVING A LIFETIME OF GIVING Faithful alumnus makes a $2 million estate commitment to endow a chair in ISyE.

PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2018 15’-11”

1/2” 13/4” 8” S FAMILY 13/4” OLLIN GAT 1/2” 175/8” C E

ST.1A 2285 Park Central Blvd. Decatur, GA 30035 770.593.1234 Phone 770.593.1533 Fax NA www.henryincorporated.com 2’-37/8” RIS L. B E TAR G MOR ATE Job Name ST.1B

NOTE: Bobby Dodd Stadium Dimensions From Partial Survey. Grant Field

Final Fit & Attachment Method 07-17-2018 To Be Determined With Panels In Shop. Issued For New Aluminum Faces For Existing Gate Headers I.F.C. Construction Scale: 3/8” = 1’-0” Refurbish Existing Sign ST.1A Project Address 177 North Avenue NW Atlanta, GA 30313 .125 Back Panels Project Number Painted PMS 874 81100 Account Manager Dean Morgan

PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY NEWS Drawn By Panels Laminated During Assembly G Leopard .090 Face Panels With Cut Out Letters Date Painted Bronze. 07-17-2018 MORRISLaminate L. ToBENATAR Gold Panel Revision TECH ALUMNUS GATE HONORS 0 Existing Curved Headers To Be Removed & BroughtALUMNUS’ Back To Henry Shop SON COMES FULL CIRCLEDo Not Mix Up Signs. Mark Each For Reinstall Into Same Place Louise and Leo Benatar, IE 1951, Virginia. He was a member of Phi Price Chair for Pediatric Research Named MBA 2016, have made a naming Beta Kappa and Tau Epsilon Pi. gift to Georgia Tech in honor of In addition to funding the gate and Clinton H. Joiner, CHEM 1971, MD, Ph.D., has been appointed their son, who died unexpectedly providing $1 million in unrestricted Customer Approval in 2016 at the age of 58. support for Georgia Tech Athletics © 2018 Henry Incorporated. This drawing & the as the inaugural Shary and Matt Price Chair for Pediatric Starting this fall, the North through the Alexander-Tharpe designs, plans, layouts, & accompanying information contained herein, are the sole property ST.1B of Henry Incorporated and may not be copied or Research at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Avenue entrance to the west stands Fund, $250,000 has been designated recreated without the written consent of Henry Incorporated. Dimensions may vary slightly due to of Bobby Dodd Stadium will bear for the Leo and Louise Benatar practical limitations inherent with fabrication. Any Georgia Tech. Simulation, Not To Scale colors shown are only approximations. the name of Morris L. Benatar, a Endowment for the H. Milton but a small acknowledgement Yellow Jacket fans entering the west Description Yellow Jackets football fan from Stewart School of Industrial and of my debt to Tech.” Reface Existing stands of Bobby Dodd An Atlanta native, Joiner earned both his medical and chemistry major at Tech, and has encompassed clinical the tender and terrible age of two, Systems Engineering, which was Georgia TechPainted basketball to Match Gate Headers Stadium atPainted North to Match PMS 874, Colors To Match Original Duranodic Bronze, Page doctoral degrees at Duke University. After completing a neonatology and hematology, basic science research in according to his family. Morris is originally established in 1998. fans might recognize the name Avenue willLow pass Gloss Finish 18-07-17 IFC - 81100 ST.1A ST.1B GATech Stadium Gate Signs 1 of 1 pediatric residency at Duke, Joiner did a clinical fellow- physiology, and clinical investigation,” Joiner said. also remembered for his love of “Georgia Tech has been a special “Benatar” fromLow the Gloss east entranceFinish through the Morris ship in neonatology at Harvard Medical School and held He moved back to Atlanta — and to Emory University community and family, including place in our lives,” Benatar says. of McCamish Pavilion, which Benatar Gate. a research fellowship in hematology/oncology at Boston and CHOA —in 2012, where he became the director of his wife, Diane, and two children; “I enrolled in 1947 and couldn’t bears the couple’s name. Louise Children’s Hospital. the Hematology Program in the Division of Hematology/ his Jewish faith; his concern for afford to live in a dorm — with the and Leo are members of the His career arc includes faculty positions at the Oncology and was the Aflac Children’s Endowed Chair others; and his affection for dogs. assistance of Dean George Griffin Hill Society, Georgia Tech’s University of Alabama at Birmingham and at the for Hematology. Regarding his appointment as the first Morris earned his bachelor’s and Fred Ajax, jobs were found most prestigious giving society, Dr. Clinton H. Joiner University of Cincinnati. Joiner served as director of Price Chair for Pediatric Research, Joiner said “It’s great degree from the University of for me to help pay my tuition and and Leo has served on the ISyE has extensive the National Institutes of Health-funded Cincinnati to come full circle, back to a role at Georgia Tech. I am North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and books, mostly used. The gifts we Advisory Board as well as the experience in blood Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center from 1996-2012. enthusiastic about the opportunity to explore new ways his MBA from the University of have made during the years are Georgia Tech Foundation Board. cell research related to sickle cell disease. His time in Ohio included positions such as chair of the to harness the power of science and technology to benefit Clinical Trials Consortium of the Comprehensive Sickle the health of children.” In addition, “I am especially Cell Centers, organizer of the Ohio Sickle Cell Alliance gratified to be working with Dr. M.G. Finn, chair of for Research (composed of both adult and pediatric biochemistry and chemistry, in the Pediatric Technology programs at University of Cincinnati and Ohio State Center,” Joiner said. FINISHING WHAT HE STARTED – 59 YEARS LATER University), director of the Division of Hematology, and The $2 million chair was made possible by the Prices’ had returned to Georgia Tech The Federal Reserve (6th receiving the degree, but co-director of the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute. generous commitment of $750,000, augmented by after a stint in the Navy. He District, Atlanta); a principal those requests fell through the Much of Joiner’s research has centered around red additional private funds for a total of $1 million. This will completed all the coursework of Benatar & Associates; and cracks. Every so often after that, blood cell functionality and cell volume regulation, be added to a $1 million quasi-endowment held by CHOA for a master’s by 1957 and was currently serves on the board Benatar would check in and ask. particularly as it relates to sickle cell disease. to permanently endow the chair. preparing his thesis defense. of Aaron’s Inc. He retired in Finally, Benatar mentioned it to “My academic journey began as an undergraduate At this point, the first of many 1996 as chairman of the board Edwin Romeijn, current chair obstacles came between of Engraph Inc., a $500 million of the H. Milton Stewart School Benatar and his degree: his manufacturing company. of Industrial and Systems thesis advisor left the Institute, Despite his impressive career Engineering, and the obstacles A six-decade delay in and Georgia Tech was unable to success, Benatar still wanted began to fall away. Benatar got receiving his master’s find someone with the requisite the sense of fulfillment that the word that he would officially SICKLE CELL DISEASE STATISTICS degree didn’t hinder Leo knowledge of Benatar’s thesis finally receiving his master’s walk with the Class of 2016. Benatar’s career success. topic to hear his defense. would provide. “I’d done the “Psychologically, it’s a Benatar continued taking work and gone to the classes tremendous feeling for me,” Sickle cell disease is a hereditary disorder that classes and waited. The next — I’m the type of person who Benatar said. “Completing this disproportionately affects persons of African descent. year, a qualified replacement wants to complete everything gives me a tremendous sense of 1/365 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human When Leo Benatar, IE 1951, advisor had still not been found, that I start,” Benatar said. A satisfaction.” The east entrance Services, roughly one in every 365 African-American MBA 2016, began his graduate so Benatar opted to leave few years after he left Tech, of McCamish Pavilion, the children in the U.S. is born with sickle cell disease, studies, Dwight D. Eisenhower Tech to begin his career. The Benatar learned the Institute graduation site, is named for 1/13 while one in 13 African-American babies carries the was President and Elvis Presley lack of a master’s didn’t hinder had dropped the thesis Benatar and his wife, Louise, sickle cell trait. was starting his musical career. Benatar’s career success. requirement for his degree. He in honor of their tremendous It was 1954, and Benatar He is a former chairman of made inquiries about finally generosity to the Institute.

PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2018 Technology Square Phase III

When it opened in 2003, Technology Square forever altered not only the Georgia Tech campus but also the Midtown area’s innovation ecosystem. Today Tech Square is fertile ground for launching inventive ideas that improve human life on a global scale. With Phase II of Tech Square set to open next year in the form of the 21-story Coda building on Spring Street, preliminary plans are now underway for Phase III. To be located on the northwest corner of West Peachtree and Fifth streets, Phase III will feature a two-tower complex with a shared elevator opposite the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business building. One tower will be dedicated to graduate and executive education for the Scheller College, while the second tower will house the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The project will also include a large plaza with street-level retail and an underground parking deck.

To inquire about naming opportunities within Phase III of Technology Square, contact Vice President for Development Barrett H. Carson at [email protected] or 404.894.1868.

28 PHILANTHROPY QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2018