Peter Holmes

Peter Holmes, born in Kettering, England May 4, 1923, died peacefully in his sleep on February 3, 2014. He is survived by his loving wife of 51 years, Alida Holmes and three sons Anthony, Derek, Peter junior and eight grandchildren. Peter served in the British Royal Army as tank commander of a Sherman Tank during World War 2 and participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. After furthering his education at Oxford, he went to work for the British Broadcasting Corporation as a financial controller. After his tenure at BBC, Peter worked for the Coca-Cola Company for 25 years, most notably as Representative Director and Vice President of Coca-Cola Japan and ending his tenure in Japan as President of Coca-Cola International. Peter transferred to Coca-Cola Headquarters in Atlanta with his family in 1975 and retired from the company in 1981 to accept a position as President and Chairman of the Board with International Horizons, a Japanese based company which produced English learning systems. In his first day of employment, Peter filed the company into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in order to restructure and subsequently led the corporation out of the largest bankruptcy in the southeast by paying back it's creditors 100 cents to the dollar, over $300 million in debt. Peter retired from International Horizons / Learning Technologies 1988 while remaining on the board of directors until 1998. In retirement, he enjoyed traveling with his wife and spending time with his family. Memorial Services will be held Friday, February 7, 2014 at 1 p.m. at Sandy Springs Chapel, 136 Mt. Vernon Hwy.NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328.