Lemuel Davis Col. Sugg, Jr.

Colonel Lem Davis Sugg, Jr, USAF, age 82, entered into eternal peace on April 11, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas with his family by his side. He was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee on September 12, 1931 to Lem and Ailene Sugg of Fayetteville, Tennessee.

His thirst for education spanned over 4 decades. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York with the class of 1954, graduating in the top 25% of his class, he chose to pursue his military career in the US Air Force. He also achieved his Master of Science degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He also was a distinguished graduate of the Command & Staff Army War College in Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He later received a third post graduate degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

His stellar military career was highlighted by several awards and recognitions including the Air Force Commendation Metal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Legion of Merit. Having devoted most of his Air Force career to strategic missile development with the Strategic Air Command during the Cuban Missile Crisis, through the height of the Cold War, to Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance, Dave Sugg's military career navigated through America's most dangerous and provocative eras.

After retiring from the USAF in 1980, he refocused his career direction and began to pursue educational development working with United San Antonio studying education issues, learning grantsmanship, and laying the groundwork for collaborations that would strengthen United San Antonio. Through the 1980s, Dave Sugg worked to bring the public and private sectors together to improve education. One effort toward this endeavor was an effort to establish the science collaborative project which was funded by the Carnegie Corporation in which private resources were made available to public schools. Another major initiative funded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science - Project 2061: Science for all Americans. This project was part of a major national initiative to develop new benchmarks for teaching math and science by studying the way in which children learned in those fields. Desiring this initiative to be expanded with public schools and the private sector, the proposal to incorporate the council's activities was approved and the Alliance for Education was born. "I place great value on education and what it can do for the upward mobility of an individual and a society. All that I am, I became through education." These words spoken by Dave Sugg best describe his motivation behind his initiative to bring about improvement in San Antonio public schools.

Colonel Lem Davis Sugg, Jr. married Marsha Joel Tate on June 10, 1954 at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

He is survived by his wife and 4 children: son, William Turney and wife, Vicki of Ord, Nebraska and their children, Sarah Ailene (Chris) of Knoxville Tennessee and William Turney II of Lexington Kentucky and Ronald Weeks and wife, Amy of Memphis, Tennessee and their son, Alec; son, Russell Davis Sugg and wife, Paige of San Antonio, Texas and their children, Russell Davis, Jr. and Alexandra Tate of San Antonio, Texas; daughter, Margaret Jolene Ford and husband, James Franklin, Jr. and their children, James Franklin Ford, III and Shelby Lyn of San Antonio, Texas; son, Peter Lemuel Sugg of San Antonio, Texas.

The family will receive friends at a reception at the Sky Lounge of the Army Retirement Center on Monday, April 21, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014

1:30 P.M.

ARMY RESIDENCE COMMUNITY

7400 CRESTWAY

Reverends Chris Cole and Craig Pooser will officiate. Interment with Full Military Honors will take place in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery on Monday, April 21, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517 Topeka, Kansas 66675.