Obituary for Randolph Whitfield (BME 1932, MSME 1934)

Randolph Whitfield of Atlanta, retired Georgia Power official, died at Canterbury Court on August 1, 2009, at age 100. The body was cremated, and memorial services will be held at St. Philip's Cathedral at 10:00 am on Friday, August 14. The family will greet guests after the service. A courtly gentleman, Mr. Whitfield was known for his integrity, his generosity of spirit and his kindness to all. He was respected for his loyalty and good judgment. He will be profoundly missed by his large family and many friends.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Shirley McPhaul Whitfield, and by his second wife, Julia Gatewood Pearson Whitfield. He was the son of the late Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, James Bryan Whitfield, and his wife, Margaret Hayward Randolph.

A native of Tallahassee, Florida, he was a devoted alumnus of Georgia Tech where he graduated with honor and received a Master's Degree. At Tech, he was President of his Class and President of ODK, the TechCotillion Club, Pi Delta Epsilon, and Co-op Club. He was a member of the ANAK Society, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi and the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Later he was President of the Greater Atlanta Georgia Tech Club, Trustee of the Tech National Alumni Assn, and State Chairman of the Tech-Georgia Development Fund. In 1995 he was awarded Georgia Tech's highest honor, the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. A suite of offices at Georgia Tech is named in his honor. His family has endowed a President's Scholarship at Tech in his name.

He pioneered the world's first air-conditioned city buses when Georgia Power owned the Atlanta transit system. A strong environmentalist, he was a charter member, trustee and Vice President of the Georgia Conservancy, Chairman of the Environment Legislation Committee of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Water Resources Study Group, and the Isaac Walton League. He served as a member of Gov. Jimmy Carter's State Reorganization Study Group and as Chairman of the Southern States Energy Board Engineering Task Force on Nuclear Energy Planning. He was a founding member and Commodore of the Atlanta Yacht Club, where he was an avid sailor for years. He was a member of the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Peachtree Kiwanis Club. Listed in Who's Who in Engineering, he served as Chairman of the Atlanta Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Vice President of the American Nuclear Society's Atlanta Chapter. He presented papers at national meetings of ASME, SAE, ATA, and the Edison Electric Institute. For 66 years he was a loyal member of St. Philips Episcopal Cathedral and served as Junior Warden, General Superintendent of its Church School, and on the Chapter and the Executive Board of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.

He is survived by two daughters, Clare Whitfield of Atlanta, and Croom W. Coward and her husband Sandy of Annapolis, MD, and a son Dr. Randolph Whitfield, Jr. and his wife Suzanne of Naro Moru, Kenya, and ten grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Randolph Whitfield President's Scholarship Endowment, Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc., 760 Spring St., Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30308.

Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 8/5/2009.

(NOTE: Mr. Whitfield's grandson is Randolph W. McDow, IE '95, MS Public Policy '03 and is the Director of Special Scholarship Programs at Georgia Tech.)