John Young Williams

John Young Williams, devoted husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, and prominent Atlanta investment banker and business-man died at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas after a brave battle with multiple myeloma. He was 70 years of age.

John was the son of prominent Savannah, Georgia lawyer, George W. Williams and Minnie Keller Roberts of Valdosta, Georgia, who both predeceased him as well as his sister Edith Williams Mathews of Lexington, Kentucky. He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1965, served as a Generals Aide in South Korea for the United States Army, and then completed his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1969. He also held a Chartered Financial Analyst designation. From an early age, John exhibited leadership qualities, strong judgment, scholastic acumen, upmost ethical values, and a fierce loyalty to friends and family. Among those leadership positions that he held were President of his Savannah High School senior class, co-captain of the Savannah High football team, football scholarship recipient to Georgia Institute of Technology, Vice President of his Phi-Delta-Theta fraternity, Chair Member of the Civil War Roundtable, President of the Atlanta Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, and President of the Atlanta Chapter of Harvard Business School Club. John was a founding partner of Equity-South in 1987, and its predecessor, Grubb & Williams in 1985. Previously, he was a Managing Director or Senior Officer in corporate finance with Kuhn Loeb, Stone & Webster, Chemical Bank, Dean Witter Reynolds, Bear Stearns, and Robinson-Humphrey in both Atlanta, Georgia and New York City, New York. He was a Board of Director and trusted advisor for public and private companies including Tech Data Corporation, FB Leopold, Inc., American Combustion, and others. He and his wife Julian also served on the Board of Directors at Ben Franklin Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.

John is survived by his wife of forty years, Julian Boykin Williams of Atlanta, Georgia, his daughters, Joyce Young Williams of San Francisco, California, and Isabel Boykin Williams of Nashville, Tennessee, brothers E. Pomeroy Williams of Savannah, Georgia, and George W. Williams, Jr. of Los Angeles, California, nephews, Edgar Pomeroy Williams Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia, and George Morgan Williams of Charleston, South Carolina, nieces Elizabeth Keller Greer of Atlanta, Georgia, Mary Converse Tucker of Dallas, Texas, and Edith Augusta Grabowsky of Sumter, South Carolina.

A memorial service celebrating John’s life is to take place on Monday, March 10 at 1 o'clock at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 4755 North Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338 to be followed by a reception. Online condolences may be made at hmpattersonspringhill.com.