Robert Baldwin Tippett

Robert Baldwin Tippett died of natural causes at Hospice Atlanta on Saturday, September 19, 2015. After a private interment at Arlington Memorial Park, a memorial service will be conducted in the sanctuary of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road at three o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 26th of September. The family will be pleased to receive friends at a reception at the church following the memorial service.

Bob practiced architecture in Atlanta from 1952 until his retirement in 2002. After serving as an artillery instructor during the Korean War, the Georgia Tech graduate returned to Atlanta and started his architectural career with Robert and Company. There he was active in master planning for the Atlanta Airport and in the firm’s joint venture for the James Madison Library of Congress Building in Washington, DC.

In 1970 he started his own firm and in the following years did many projects at Emory University, including the Boisfeuillet Jones Center, The Historic Quadrangle Renovation, The Emory Clinic, and The Emory Eye Center. He also had projects at Columbus College, Columbia Theological Seminary, Southern Airways, TigerAir Inc., Air Force Academy in Kuwait and various flight simulators for the Air Force. While at Robert and Company he was the architect for the Physics Building and others.

Bob was born on October 24, 1927 at the Anglo American Hospital in Havana, Cuba. His father, Lucius Holmes Tippett, and his mother, Mamie Lou Thomas, both deceased, were childhood sweethearts in Baxley, Georgia. They migrated to Havana in 1920 and remained there for 35 years before retiring in Atlanta. Bob lived in Havana until coming to Atlanta to attend Georgia Tech in 1944 where he received degrees in Architecture in 1948 and 1949. He did post graduate work at the Ecoles d’Art, Fontainebleau, France.

He was a longtime member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church where he held numerous positions of leadership, including Chairman of the Administrative Board, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and many others as well as teacher in both the Children’s Divison and the Adult Division of the Sunday School.

Bob also served as President of the Georgia Chapter, American Institute of Architects, President of the Big Canoe Property Owners Association, Member of the Board of Northside YMCA, Member of the Society for Technical Communication of the Pickens County Chamber of Commerce and member of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Bob and his wife, Mary Anne, made their home in Big Canoe, Georgia, for 12 years before returning to Atlanta in 2006. After his retirement, Bob conducted a one-person practice designing homes. He is also the author of a self-published memoir entitled “Never to Return,” a collection of stories of his “real world” in Havana and his “other world” in Baxley.

Bob is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Mary Anne, and three children, Mike Tippett (Rosemary) of Atlanta, Beth Jarrett (Harold) of Jefferson and Ellen Snyder (David) of Atlanta, and seven grandchildren, Charlotte and Mary Grace Tippett; Hal and Charlie Jarrett, and Laura, Mary Beth and Matt Snyder.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the World Methodist Evangelism Institute, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1762 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322 or to Hospice Atlanta, 1244 Park Vista Dr., Atlanta, GA 30319.