Atlanta Icon Departs at 89

Honorable Roswell O. Sutton, 17th International President, passed peacefully at Hospice Atlanta on August 19, 2009.  

He enjoyed two long careers in his professional life—one with Citizens Trust Bank (1946-1974) and the other with Paschal Enterprises (1978-2008).  Additionally, Mr. Sutton worked as a mathematics teacher with the Cook County Board of Education (1941-1943) and for MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) in its early years as Housing officer (1974-1977).  In 1977, Mr. Sutton established an independent business—R. O. Sutton and Association, a financial management, consultant and investment analyst organization.

Mr. Sutton began work at Citizens Trust Bank in the bookkeeping department and rose through the ranks to become Executive Vice President.  He joined Paschal Enterprises as Vice President of Finance for Paschal’s Concessions, Inc. and Vice President/Assistant Treasurer for Dobbs-Paschal Midfield Corporation.  

He served on the board of directors of the George Carver/East Side Boys and Girls Club (member since 1948, President, 1953-1963); the Carrie Steel-Pitts Home, Inc. (member since 1948): Big Bethel A.M.E. Federal Credit Union; Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union.  He also has served on the boards of Peachford Hospital (Chairman of the Advisory Council, 1978 to 1955); Gate City Day Nursery Association; Governor’s Advisory Council on Mental Health, Retardation and Substance Abuse; Advisory Council of Fulton County Alcoholism Treatment Center (Chairman); Alonzo F. Herndon and Norris B. Herndon Foundation; Center for the Visually Impaired Foundation; and the Atlanta Life Financial Services Group, Inc.  Mr. Sutton is a former Chairman of the Butler Street YMCA Finance Committee and served as a member of the board for 29 years.

Mr. Sutton was inducted into the U. S. Army in 1943.  Before an honorable discharge in 1946, he served in American, European, and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters of Operation. Mr. Sutton immediately re-enlisted in the Army Reserve Corps and retired in 1972 with the rank of Major.  At that time, he transferred to the Retired Army Reserve Corps.

Educated in the public schools of Atlanta, Mr. Sutton graduated from Booker T. Washington High School (1937).  He received his B. A. degree from Morehouse College (1941) and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1953.  Mr. Sutton continued to advance his education through several seminar, institutes and certificate programs.  He attended the Real Estate Appraisal Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston (1948); the Practicing Law Institute of New York City, sponsored by the New York Stat Bar Association (1957); the Institute for Financial Management, Senior Bank Officer’s Seminar, Harvard University, Boston (1959), and the Center for Continuing Education, University of Georgia at Athens (1961-1962).

Mr. Sutton was a member of Friendship Baptist Church for 71 years and has served on the Board of Trustees since 1948.  Mr. Sutton held memberships with the Atlanta Morehouse Club, the National Alumni Association of Morehouse College; Frontiers International; W. C. Thomas Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; and the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.  He served as the 17th International President of Phi Beta Sigma from 1960 to 1962. He was the first member and only member of the fraternity to be named International President Emeritus.

In addition to his wife Mrs. Luel Cummings Sutton, he is survived by his daughter, Patricia Crawford, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, his brother Clyde A. Sutton, Sr. (wife Evelyn) and a host of other relatives and friends.


 
 

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