Tim Spires, president and CEO of the Tennessee Association of Manufacturers and the Chattanooga Regional Manufacturers Association, died Sunday of an apparent heart attack.
He was hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains and was found unresponsive, said Annie White the Regional Project Manager for Pathways to Prosperity of Southeast Tennessee, a program that helps high school students get manufacturing internships.
"It's beyond shocking and sad," said White, who shared an office with Spires in the EPB building in downtown Chattanooga.
"He just wanted to do 12 miles or something like that. Which in his mind was an easy hike," White said. "Tim was in excellent health. He was an avid marathon runner. He's done countless marathons He was really into hiking."