Avis de décès de Ernest-Going Williams - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

WILLIAMS, Ernest Going, 85, died on Monday, June 11, 2001 at his residence, 156 The Highlands in Tuscaloosa. His life is best remembered through the following text of his induction into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame on October 12, 2000: 'When Ernest Going Williams received The University of Alabama's Distinguished Alumni Award, The Tuscaloosa News, in a congratulatory editorial, said Williams 'joins the ranks of UA legends...' Indeed, his service to the University, to his community and to humanity is legendary.' Paper company executive, University treasurer and trustee, banker and outstanding citizen, Williams' roots go deep into the soil of the Southeast. His great grandfather, Nicholas Gaines Augstus, was a Mississippi planter and attended The University of Alabama in the 1840s. His father was an owner of Consolidated Lumber Company, which had sawmills throughout Mississippi, Alabama and Florida but did not survive the depression of the 1930s. Williams was born in Macon, Mississippi, on September 24, 1915, the son of Augustus Gaines and Mary Sanford Williams. The family moved to Tuscaloosa when he was five. He attended Tuscaloosa schools and graduated from The University of Alabama with a bachelor of science degree in business. In 1942...he entered the Navy...as an Ensign. He served aboard the U.S.S. Kaskaskia and the U.S.S. Severn in the South Pacific. After three years of active duty, he returned to Tuscaloosa to become assistant treasurer at the University. He soon was selected treasurer and established the reputation for fairness and openness, as well as shrewdness in financial matters. In 1951, he married Cecil Butler, of Jacksonville, Florida, who he met while she was visiting her sister in Tuscaloosa. He was active in the community, as President of the University Club, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Exchange Club...In 1956 Williams left the University and joined First National Bank of Tuscaloosa as a vice president and a member of the board. But the University recognized the importance of having Williams close at hand and in August 1956, he was elected to the Board of Trustees and became the school's third local trustee. In 1958 Williams...became vice president for finance and treasurer at Gulf States Paper and a member of its board of directors. In 1977, Williams left Gulf States and organized Affiliated Paper Companies, where he became chairman and chief executive officer. Under his leadership for 17 years, the corporation grew to 264 affiliated companies with total sales of more than $2.2 billion in 1994, the year Williams retired at age 70. In 1957, he chaired a selection committee to search for a new football coach. Paul W. Bryant was high on the list and Williams, along with Dr. Frank Rose, Fred Sington and Marc Ray Clement, persuaded Bryant to return. Williams was honored as Tuscaloosa's Outstanding Citizen in 1973; by the University's Board of Trustees with a dinner and resolution of appreciation on his retirement; as a recipient of an honorary LL.D. degree from the University in 1987; and by induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 1987. He is an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, and a past chairman and past president of numerous business and civic organizations. He is also a member of the Newcomen Society of North America. In 1998, he was selected as the Distinguished Alumnus by the University's National Alumni Association and in 1999 the University presented Williams the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, which recognizes excellence of character and service to humanity. Throughout his career, his wife, Cecil, has been at his side. The couple has made significant gifts to The University of Alabama, including the Cecil B. and Ernest G. Williams Faculty Enhancement Fund. They have three children, Ernest Sanford (Ford) and wife Audrey Bennett (Bunny) Williams, Turner Butler and wife Elizabeth Ann (Libba) Williams, and Elizabeth Cecil (Cece) and husband, Charles Kenneth Hartley, Jr.; and grandchildren, Christopher Gentry and Mary Sanford Williams, Turner Butler, Jr., Harris Bushnell, Elizabeth Ann and Sanford Robertson Williams and Charles Kenneth III, Gaines Williams and Turner Butler Hartley. A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church on Thursday, June 14th at 11:00 a.m. Honorary Pallbearers are University of Alabama Trustees, Trustees Emeritus and Chancellor, Elders of the First Presbyterian Church, members of the Exchange Club and members of the ROMEO Luncheon Club. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the DCH Foundation, the UA Office of Advancement, or the First Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund. Heritage Chapel Directing