Former Georgia Governor Carl E. Sanders, Sr., a statesman, businessman and philanthropist, champion of education and better government, died Sunday. He was 89.
As a young man, Sanders gave up his role as a quarterback at UGA to go off to fight a war, now nearly 70 years gone. He learned to fly a bomber, which he named in honor of his home state. He dated a Hollywood starlet. He became a lawyer, then a lawmaker, then a governor – all by the age of 37 – then went on to become a leading business figure.
As a state representative, Sanders beat a segregationist political machine, bringing a moderate Democrat’s voice and vision to Atlanta. As a state senator, he urged then-Gov. Ernest Vandiver to desegregate Georgia’s public schools. As a governor, he oversaw a period of unprecedented growth, underscored by the growing demands of an increasingly urbanized state. Schools and airports flourished during his tenure. Big-time sports – the Atlanta Braves and Falcons – came to Atlanta while he was in office.
As a businessman, he and two partners took about $300 and launched a law firm that now employs about 600 attorneys and has offices from Atlanta to Hong Kong.
Sanders spent his final working years looking at the Atlanta skyline from his 52nd-floor office. On clear days, he could easily see Stone Mountain. But he had a harder time discerning his legacy.