Thomas Coile Watson Jr

Thomas Coile Watson passed away peacefully in his home on December 27, 2014. He was born on February 3, 1924 in Athens Georgia. He lived most of his childhood in Elberton, and was educated at the Elberton Public Schools, Presbyterian College, and the University of Georgia where he was president of his fraternity as well as of the Inter-fraternity Council. His college career was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served with a combat unit of General George Patton's Third Army in Europe. He was temporarily stationed in New Orleans, LA awaiting orders to travel to the Pacific when he and the world learned of the Japanese surrender. Mr. Watson resided in Atlanta since 1948. In 1950, he co-founded Temporary Talent, the first temporary staffing service in the southeast. Today the concept has developed into a major industry in Georgia, employing thousands and supporting an annual payroll that reaches into the millions. Mr. Watson established the city's first hotel sales organization in 1955, representing more than fifty hotel properties in all part of the United States. The company employed what was then the most modern state of the art equipment, which included the origination and confirmation of hotel reservations by Western Union teletype. In 1969, Mr. Watson mobilized 265 community-owned banks in Georgia into the Independent Bankers Association of Georgia, an organization that contributed greatly to the good health of Georgia's banking industry. The Association played a leading role in banker education and gave birth in 1979, in concert with the College of Management of Georgia Tech, to the Bank Leadership Institute (a graduate level school for bank chief executives and senior management officers), and Mr. Watson served as its executive director until his retirement in 1986. When personal computers first emerged in the early 1980s, Mr. Watson set up the first system of "network" personal computers in Atlanta in the Independent Bankers Association headquarters. He also exerted a leadership role in adapting them to banking applications, wrote numerous software programs for bank use, and established the first computer lab in Atlanta that was used to train bankers in the application of personal computer technology to the solution of banking problems. Bankers from all over the country, as well as several countries in South America, attended these sessions. The Georgia Society of CPAs later took over the lab, which was located in Tower Place, and used it as a part of the continuing professional education and training programs for its members. Mr. Watson was a member of the Wieuca Road Baptist Church and was for many years an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. He chaired, in 1958, the club's first recognition program under the STAR program, which he also helped create and which has grown to sponsorship by more than 200 civic organizations and businesses, and has honored more than 19,000 Georgia high school seniors for academic excellence, as well as many of the teachers who inspired them. Mr. Watson was one of ten original civic leaders who sponsored and endowed The Chair of Private Enterprise at Georgia State University. This was the first such Chair in the United States, although many colleges and universities in recent years have developed similar programs. In 1979, Mr. Watson conceived the idea of having young career bankers in the state organize for the purpose of assisting faculties in the high schools across the state to give their students a better understanding of, and appreciation for, the American Private Enterprise System. This movement grew from a handful of participants into a program which at the time of his retirement in 1986 reached more than 60,000 students in communities all over Georgia. This program was later carried on by the Georgia Bankers Association and grew to nearly twice the size of its 1986 outreach. Mr. Watson designed and became editor of the nation's first electronic newsletter for banking, which began February 14, 1983 and published two issues each weekday throughout the year. Bankers found this publication particularly useful in that one of its features was the updating of information relating to interest rate changes in various locations during a time when interest rates for banks had just become deregulated and were changing almost daily. In the early 1980s, the country was experiencing very volatile interest rate fluctuations. While the nation saw new record high bank failures in nine out of ten years in the 1980s decade, Georgia experienced only two bank failures during that period. Good asset/liability management, aided by the electronic newsletter and the application of modern computer technology, is credited as being one of the major contributors to the success of banks in Georgia during that turbulent period. After his retirement in 1986, Mr. Watson maintained an active interest in banker education and contributed to its enhancement, primarily through the development of new and innovative methods of applying personal computer-based solutions to banking problems and needs. When it became apparent that Internet websites would be a vital part of American business, Mr. Watson became an innovator in website creation, and in the early 1990s, designed many such sites for individuals, business, associations and churches. Mr. Watson was a loving husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a devoted and selfless friend. His gentle spirit, intelligence and wisdom were rare and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Joan Boone Syfan Watson, daughter Amy Watson of Birmingham, AL, son and daughter in law, Clay and Penny Watson of Gainesville and two granddaughters, Kelly Stewart of Boston, MA and Case Watson Stewart of New York City, NY. A memorial service celebrating Mr. Watson's life will be held Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sandy Springs Chapel, 136 Mt. Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs GA, with visitation following. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Wears Valley Ranch in Sevierville, TN or to your favorite charity.

Arrangements under the direction of Sandy Springs Chapel, Sandy Springs, GA.