Abit Massey, president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation (GPF) and well known poultry business lobbyist, died June 14, 2024. He used to be 96.
For 48 years, Massey served because the president of the Georgia Poultry Federation. He joined the group in 1960, retiring in 2009. However he remained lively as president emeritus.
“To mention Abit used to be a person of integrity, persona and kindness is an understatement,” mentioned Nationwide Rooster Council Intervening time President Gary Kushner. “He knew everybody’s identify, and everybody knew his. He used to be the type of individual that when talking to him in a room of 200 other folks, he made you are feeling like the one one there. His paintings helped to position Georgia’s poultry business at the map, construction the root for its nationwide prominence lately. He used to be a titan of the business and can in point of fact be neglected. Our ideas and prayers are with Kayanne and the circle of relatives.”
Massey used to be born on Nov. 14, 1927, in Corridor County, Georgia. He graduated from the College of Georgia in 1949 with a trade level and earned a regulation level from Emory College in 1955. In 1959, he was director of the Georgia Division of Trade, now the Division of Financial Construction, the place he created the Vacationer Department and constructed the primary Georgia Welcome Station, in keeping with the Virtual Library of Georgia.
Massey met then-Kayanne Shoffner in 1959 throughout her reign as Leave out Georgia, and the 2 married and moved to Gainesville, Georgia, the place Kayanne, persisted her level at Brenau College. The Masseys have been longtime supporters and donors of Brenau, together with donating a statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and nominating the college for a Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities.
On account of his laborious paintings and willpower that helped propel Georgia’s poultry business into national and international prominence, Massey used to be inducted into the Poultry Trade Corridor of Repute in 2019 after advocating for the poultry business and running to increase analysis within the box.
Different honors Massey earned come with the 1986 UGA Alumni Benefit Award, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Affiliation’s 2012 Harold E. Ford Lifetime Success Award, and the inaugural Medallion of Honor for Provider to the UGA School of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. The Georgia Poultry Laboratory Community sits on Abit Massey Manner simply off state Course 365 in Gainesville, Georgia.
Maximum just lately, the College of Georgia introduced in overdue 2023 that it used to be naming a study room on the college’s new poultry science construction after Massey.