At the center of his life was his enduring marriage to Donna Wilson McLarty, whom he reconnected with at the University of Mississippi in 1963 after first meeting in high school. They married on August 1, 1964, and shared fifty-eight years together until her death in 2022, raising three daughters and a son in Atlanta.
Theron loved his family, and he loved his patients, devoting his professional life to their well-being through his psychiatric practice. After medical school and service as a Navy medical officer on the Francis Scott Key submarine, he came to Atlanta in 1970 to complete his psychiatric residency at Emory University. Theron then joined the newly established Ridgeview Institute in Smyrna, Georgia, in 1976 as the Adult Unit Medical Director and subsequently built a long and distinguished psychiatric practice. He served as president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association from 1981 to 1982, was named Georgia’s Top Psychiatrist in 1987, and later worked with players through the NFL Players Association.
Born July 20, 1942, in Oxford, Mississippi, to Pauline Mills McLarty and William Theron McLarty, Sr., he attended University High School, where he was quarterback, senior class president, and “Mr. UHS.” He went on to study at the University of Mississippi, first in chemical engineering and then in medicine. During the university’s desegregation, he was James Meredith’s laboratory partner.
He and Donna joined Northside Drive Baptist Church in 1981. He loved music, family gatherings, supporting and touring with the Atlanta Boy Choir, golf, travel, Kiawah Island, New Orleans, and the Ole Miss Rebels. He greeted fellow alumni everywhere with a hearty “Hotty Toddy.”
He was preceded in death by his wife, Donna, and his parents. He is survived by his four children, Jessica "Gigi" Collins of Atlanta, Jennifer Sardone (Mike) of Smyrna, Janna Chandler (Charlie) of Marietta, and William Theron McLarty III of Marietta; and ten grandchildren: Liam, Aidan, Henry and Grace Collins; Cameron Sardone; Emma, Eleanor, and Austin Chandler; and Greta and Elliott McLarty.
Visitation will be held at H.M. Patterson & Son-Arlington Chapel, 173 Allen Road NE, Sandy Springs, GA on Tuesday, September 22, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
A Memorial service will be held Wednesday, September 23, at 11:00 a.m. at Northside Drive Baptist Church.
A graveside service will follow on Saturday, September 26, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford, Mississippi.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Atlanta Boy Choir.
