George J. Berry: Obituary

Mr. George J. Berry passed away on September 7, 2019 at home. Mr. Berry, a native of Union County, spent his working years in Atlanta and retired in 2004 to Monroe County in middle Georgia. He was born on July 5, l937 to William Cautus Berry and Lorena Crawford Berry of Blairsville.

He was a member of the Union County High School Class of l955. He graduated from Young Harris College and Georgia State University. He worked for four mayors of Atlanta and was the Chief Administrative Officer of the city under Mayors Sam Massell and Maynard Jackson. He was perhaps best known as the official responsible for a major expansion of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport which at the time was the largest single public construction project in the history of the State of Georgia. He later served as head of the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism under Governor Joe
Frank Harris. He was appointed by Governor Zell Miller to Chair the board of the Metropolitan Atlanta Olympic Games Authority which provided public oversight to the l996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He concluded his working career as Senior Vice President of Cousins Properties Incorporated, an Atlanta real estate development firm. Always proud of his mountain roots, Mr. Berry served for many years as a Trustee of Young Harris College and on the Advisory Board of the Byron Herbert Reece Society.

Mr. Berry is survived by his loyal and loving wife of 56 years, Jeannine Barrett Berry. Also by a son, Mark Jefferson Berry (Liz) of Alpharetta and a daughter Jennifer Berry Hudgins (Scott) of Forsyth, GA. His pride and joy were five grandchildren, Oliver, Harry and Virginia Hudgins and Crawford and Jackson Berry.

The graveside interment services at Union Memory Gardens will be private.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial gifts to the Young Harris College Local Scholarship Campaign.