Bradley Hale, age 78, died Monday, November 14, 2011, at the family farm in Marengo County, Alabama. He was born in Mobile, Alabama, on October 30, 1933, the son of Kathleen Bradley Hale and Ernest Everett Hale. His wife of 50 years, Anne Sheffield Hale, predeceased him in 2010. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in 1951. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1956 earning AB and LL.B degrees in five years. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was president of the SAE fraternity.
In 1958 he received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. Mr. Hale practiced law for 31 years at the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding. He was continually involved with evolving governance and management issues at King & Spalding, chairing the first committee to address that topic in 1974. He was elected the firm's first managing partner of the modern era in 1984.
Mr. Hale served on the board of directors of Oxford Industries, Inc. and Crawford & Company for 25 years and on the board of Lanier Business Products until its merger with Harris Corporation.
Mr. Hale served for twenty years on the board of directors of the Bank of Commerce, the Sheffield family bank in Americus, Georgia, and took the lead in 1982 in its merger with First National Bank of Atlanta.
He represented an heir of Howard Hughes and served on the board of Summa Corporation, the holding company for the Howard Hughes Estate.
He was a founding trustee of the Southern Federal Tax Institute and a member of the American College of Trust & Probate Counsel.
He retired from the law firm in 1991.
Throughout his career, he has devoted himself to supporting and leading non-profit organizations. He had a keen interest in historic preservation.
He served as an early chairman of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and as a founding chairman of the Advisory Board of the Georgia Historical Society. He received the highest lifetime achievement awards from both of these organizations.
He was a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and served as chairman of the Atlanta Historical Society.
He served for seven years as vice-chairman of the board of Sweet Briar College and chaired its presidential search committee.
He was an active parishioner and vestryman at All Saints Episcopal Church.
He was a member of the Piedmont Driving Club, the Knickerbocker Club, and the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati.
Bradley is survived by his son, Frank Sheffield Hale (Elizabeth), by his daughter, Ellen Hale Jones (Ray), by grandsons, Sheffield Medlin Hale, Thomas Harrold Hale, John Bradley Hale, Raymond Allen Jones, IV, and Bradley Hale Jones, all of Atlanta, by his brother , Dr. Everett Hale of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and by nephew Ernest Hale (Linda), of Jacksonville, Florida, and niece Ree Hale Almon (Robert) of Tuscaloosa.
A memorial service will be held at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, November 22nd at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 W. Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA. Following the service, the family will receive guests in Ellis Hall. Burial services will be held at 11:00 AM Friday, November 25th, at Paulling Place Cemetery, Marengo County, Alabama.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to:
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
1516 Peachtree Street NW
Atlanta GA 30309Atlanta History Center
130 West Paces Ferry Road NW
Atlanta GA 30305or to the charity of your choice
.
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Nov. 15, 2011