Terry Roberts Isbell

Terry Isbell, a long-time resident of East Cobb, passed away on December 27, 2025 (following a long-time struggle with pulmonary fibrosis). He was born in Hopkinsville, KY on January 1, 1946, the first of the “baby boomers” but moved to his father’s hometown of Bowling Green, KY a few months later.

He attended Bowling Green High and was an avid tennis player most of his life, became the city tennis instructor at age 16, and won the high school regional singles championship. He attended Western Kentucky University where he met his wife, Carol, who was from Syracuse, N.Y. While attending WKU, he became a founding member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After graduation, he was accepted in the Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate school and was later commissioned as a U.S. Naval Officer. After his military service, he returned to Western Kentucky University, where he received his MBA. After grad school, he accepted a position with a company that eventually moved him to the headquarters in Atlanta, GA. He later became the HR Director for the Haverty Furniture Company, and while there, attended night law school, obtaining his JD in 1979. He joined Rich’s department stores (now Macy’s) as a Divisional Vice President for twelve years and later moved on to several other Atlanta based companies, serving as Vice President of Human Resources, and retiring from Price Industries in 2014. During his career, he served on the Boards of the Atlanta Better Business Bureau and the Atlanta Health Care Coalition, the HR Advisory Committees for the Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Atlanta and the American Cancer Society, the Employment Law and the Employment Benefits Committees of the Washington based American Retail Federation and numerous other professional organizations. In his professional career, he was highly respected and always attempted to find a proper balance between the employees’ and the organization’s needs. He was pre-deceased by his parents, Stanley Larmon Isbell and Rosa Head Isbell of Bowling Green, KY. He’s survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Carol Ann Kozlowski Isbell, his daughter Kimberly Isbell Leslie (Brian) and grandchildren Scott, Grant and Brooke Leslie of Marietta, GA., his son Chris Isbell (Kelly) and grandchildren McKenzie, Connor and Preston of Colleyville, TX., his sister, Barbara Kitchens (Larry), of Bowling Green, KY and numerous other cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be planned later this year.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation (t2t.org) that helps America’s heroes by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building specially adapted smart homes for injured veterans and first responders.