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Longtime EMA director mourned
Services are Sunday for Lady, 83
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Forsyth County News

Friends and family are mourning the death Thursday of Robert Mack Lady Sr., longtime Forsyth County emergency management authority director.


The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.


Funeral services are at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Ingram Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens.


“Mr. Lady was everyone’s idea of the perfect management grandfather,” said Danny Bowman, current EMA director and Forsyth County fire chief.


Lady, who was 83, had served as EMA director for 29 years.


In that capacity he served as the liaison among responding authorities, such as the Georgia National Guard, firefighters and police officers, in the event of an emergency.


“He was arguably on the of the most respected EMA directors in the state of Georgia,” Bowman said. “When I arrived in Forsyth County from Atlanta, Mr. Lady was the first individual to approach me as I came out of retirement to inquire as to whether or not I needed to be brought up to speed on local emergency management issues.


“At the time, he didn’t know that upon his retirement I would be named the EMA director as his successor.”


Bowman added that Lady was “a gentleman from sunup to sundown.”
“Mr. Lady had no adversaries. He was respected by all who knew him,” Bowman said.


According to his obituary, Lady was a Mason in Chamblee Lodge 444 and a Shriner in the Yaarab Temple. He attended Georgia Tech and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from the University of Phoenix.


An Eagle Scout, he served as a Boy Scout leader for Troop 126 in Cumming.


Immediate survivors include his wife, Caroline Grant Lady; son and daughter-in-law, Robert M. Lady Jr. and Angelia; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Bettie and Fred Hagan of Alpharetta; and several nieces and nephews.


In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Embracing Hospice House, 8013 Majors Road, Cumming, GA 30041.