The University of Georgia never had a more excellent friend than John Francis McMullan. He was a devoted alumnus, passionate football fan, scholarly overachiever, and generous donor with a historical bent for family genealogy, the history of this state, and an unrestrained love of America.
John died following the recent holiday season, leaving a conspicuous void in the UGA alumni ranks. Finding an alumnus with a greater emotional affinity for the University of Georgia would be more challenging than finding John and his wife, Marilyn. Their adulation was cloaked in graphic sincerity, a deep and abiding love, and a telling selflessness.
They did not seek anonymity but deflected rave reviews. They gave from the heart, and while they appreciated being appreciated, they preferred not to be lionized.
While he never accompanied a band in a musical presentation, the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” and “Hail to Georgia” touched his heart and soul, warmed his inner spirit, and inspired him always to do more for his beloved alma mater. University officials say that he and Marilyn provided more financial support to more different programs than any alumnus on record.
John was a learned man who was a good man, one who preached what he practiced. He would get your ox out of the ditch.
Born in Covington, 43 miles west of Athens, John grew up in the Classic City, where his father was a well-known and highly regarded county agent. He served as a district agent during the state’s longtime county unit system, which dictated its way of life for decades. Those agents had to know who the power brokers were and how to cope with them.
Agriculture was the state’s biggest and most significant industry as it is today, but with a prevailing austerity that hovered over the rural counties, where all too many farmers and agri-businessmen had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to survive.
The agricultural extension service became a godsend to countless rural Georgians who were entitled to certain benefits but did not know how to fill out forms to receive funding and subsidies. His father, Tom, like many county agents, helped many farmers enhance their livelihood by providing counsel and direction that improved their standard of living.
“People don’t realize just how poor so many in our state really were,” John said when interviewed for a book about his family history a few months before he died.
While he appreciated the history and importance of agriculture in the state and the University of Georgia, John knew as early as middle school that he wanted to become an accountant. He was always good with numbers and could dazzle his friends with his uncanny ability to solve math problems in his head. He seemed to have a built-in calculator in his brain.
John was a well-read man who was well-versed on many topics. He was never reluctant to take a day to research details of a particular subject to which he might have been introduced to by reading the daily newspaper after hearing about a scheme or idea at a social outing.
A man with an inventive and creative bent, John taught at the University of South Florida and later Georgia State early on in his career. A funny thing happened on a damage control trip to Tampa, where he and his partners liquidated a business in arrears.
Returning to Atlanta, he learned that it only cost $10 to upgrade his airline ticket to a first-class airline ticket. This brought about a fortuitous business opportunity. His seatmate, upon learning that John taught accounting at Georgia State, told John he was looking for a student type to provide part-time accounting services for his budding company.
John decided to do the work himself. He developed an accounting company from that relationship that he would later sell for a consequential profit.
Such resourcefulness was a staple of John’s business career. He was adept at recognizing a deal and made many keen and adroit decisions, which enhanced the bottom line of Camden Real Estate, his primary company. When his business prospered, this was good news for UGA. He was a serious donor to UGA all his business life. Consequently, his planned gift will significantly enrich Georgia’s state university, making him a model donor for the institution.
John wanted the University to excel from the sports teams to the debate team, from chemistry to agronomy, and from accounting to agriculture. He tipped his hat to Herschel Walker when he won the Heisman trophy, but he was just as proud of the glowing accomplishments of the latest Rhodes Scholar on campus. Or the signature work and research of a professor such as Steve Stice, perhaps UGA’s most exalted scientist.
A versatile man with varied interests, John had the intellect of a seasoned scholar with trimmings of humility and humanity. On Saturday afternoon, he was at home in Sanford Stadium but also at the Louvre in Paris, Monet’s gardens at Giverny, the museums that dot the World War II beaches at Normandy, and the blooms of the state botanical gardens of Georgia.
John never met a book he didn’t like. He enjoyed one-on-one conversations with Jere Morehead, Ben Ayers, Vince Dooley, Hamilton Holmes, Verne Lundquist, Steve Stice, his sons Tom and Ted, and his four grandchildren.
For years, when he traveled, he listened to books as he walked, which became a study in commitment. In 1984, he began walking for health reasons and walked 25,000 miles in his lifetime. He did that by counting his steps, saying, “You have to be a nutty CPA to get pleasure out of counting your steps.” He walked in 47 states and 73 countries, including Russia.
On a trip there, he walked late one afternoon, as was his custom, which led to his being followed by the KGB. He found that out from an American tour guide who spoke Russian. She told John that they were concerned about the route leading him through a not-so-savory neighborhood as evening shadows encroached.
They didn’t want an American tourist to become a crime victim. He walked in all kinds of weather, including a hurricane. Only a seasoned disciplinarian would make that commitment. He walked on all continents except Australia and Antarctica.
John appreciated levity and enjoyed telling the story of his sister Jane and her reaction when she was told she had a new baby brother: She said, “I’d rather have a dog.”
The fortnight before his death, John enjoyed the Georgia Center for Continuing Education’s signature dessert, strawberry ice cream pie, with President Jere Morehead and Ben Ayers, dean of the Terry College of Business. That made his day — a conversation with two of Georgia’s top academicians over a highly regarded campus desert where he obtained in-depth knowledge of the institution and the preeminent school of business.
I can’t image anybody giving more of himself and his resources than Jonn Francis McMullan, UGA’s model alumnus.