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Morris Brown College's
Centennial
Man of the Year in Georgia

[[image]]
[[caption]] Honorable Robert W. Woodruff Chairman Emeritus, The Coca-Cola Company [[/caption]] 

In recognition of exemplary service to his community, State and Nation, especially his numerous philanthropies in support of medical, educational, civic, cultural and charitable programs, the Honorable Robert W. Woodruff has been selected to receive the Morris Brown College award as Centennial Man of the Year in Georgia.

Mr. Woodruff was born December 6, 1889 in Columbus, Georgia, the eldest of four sons of Emily Winship and Ernest Woodruff. The family moved to Atlanta where Robert Woodruff attended Boys' High and Georgia Military Academy, then Emory at Oxford. His first job was apprentice with General Pipe and Foundry. Later he was employed by General Fire Extinguisher Company, then Atlanta Ice & Coal before he joined White Motor Company as a truck salesman, advancing to vice president and sales manager in nine years.

In 1923 Mr. Woodruff at the age of 33 was elected president of The Coca-Cola Company and his business genius turned Atlanta's famous soft drink into the world's best known trademarked product. The phenomenal growth achieved under his leadership is evidenced today in a major international, multiproduct company with sales of nearly $6 billion in 1980. Mr. Woodruff was chairman of the board from 1939 to 1954. After retiring in 1955, he remained a director and chairman of the finance committee, assuming the title of emeritus in 1981.

Mr. Woodruff's philanthropic gifts are legion, though many of his contributions remain anonymous and unpublicized at his insistence. His personal gifts and contributions from the Woodruff Foundation total in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Among the recipients of his generosity are Emory University and the Woodruff Medical Center, the Atlanta Arts Alliance, the City of Atlanta, the State of Georgia, the Atlanta University Center, and youth organizations. Morris Brown College also has benefited from his philanthropy with an endowment grant and funds for renovation of Foundation Hall, a national historical landmark.

Robert Woodruff has lived out the conviction that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," enriching the lives of countless others through his giving.

Morris Brown College is pleased to honor Robert Winship Woodruff as Centennial Man of the Year in Georgia.

HISTORIC MURAL DEDICATED AND UNVEILED AT MORRIS BROWN COLLEGE

[[image - picture of the historic mural]]

The Atlanta Coco-Cola Bottling Company and Morris Brown College held dedicatory and unveiling services for the Morris Brown College Centennial Mural on Thursday, December 16, 1982 in Fountain Hall, Georgia's twenty-fifth National Historic Landmark. The Mural was made possible by a Centennial grant from The Atlanta Coco-Cola Bottling Company as a tribute to Morris Brown College for one hundred years of educational excellence and service.

During the program city and state officials, historians, artists, clergymen, High Museum of Art, and the Atlanta Coco-Cola Bottling Company representatives, praised the College for its century of achievements in higher education and its rich historical heritage.

AME Church Bishop Harold I. Bearden, a 1933 alumnus and a former Chairman of the Morris Brown College Board of Trustees (1976-1980), was the dedicatory speaker. "The Mural exemplifies the courage and faith of blacks who 100 years ago, struggled to educate and better themselves and their children. We of the Morris Brown College Family should have the same faith today", Bishop Bearden said during his dedicatory address.

Others participating in the Dedication were retired AME Bishop Ernest L. Hickman, a former Chairman of the Board, The Right Reverend Frederic Hilborn Talbot, President Prelate, AME Church in Georgia and current Chairman of the Morris Brown College Board of Trustees, Reverend McKinley Young, senior paster, Big Bethel AME Church, where Morris Brown College was founded in 1881 and Dr. W. F. Payne, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, a 1949 Morris Brown College Alumnus

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