PETE CORRELL
In May 2021, the University of Georgia lost one of its most accomplished, supportive and proud alumni: Alston D. “Pete” Correll, Jr.
Correll attended UGA in the early ’60s. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1963. While in Athens, he also met an Education student named Ada Lee Fulford. She would become Ada Lee Correll shortly after the two of them graduated in ’63.
Pete and Ada Lee’s photos from the 1962 Pandora yearbook
After UGA, Pete would go on to earn two master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Maine, and for over a decade afterwards, he and his young family would move across the country as Pete worked for numerous building products and paper companies.
In 1988, he accepted a position with Georgia Pacific and returned to his home state, where—over the years—he would forge his reputation as a bold business executive, a devoted family man, a civic-minded leader and a committed philanthropist. He rose through Georgia Pacific’s ranks and led the company as president, CEO and chairman for 13 years of tremendous growth and success, his family grew to include 2 children, their spouses and 5 grandchildren, and his philanthropy—most significantly, the massively successful effort to save Grady Memorial Hospital in 2007—made an immeasurable positive impact on countless lives.
His return to Georgia also allowed him to deepen his relationship with his alma mater. As a result of his interest in and dedication to UGA, Pete would become a University of Georgia Foundation Trustee and an honorary chair of the Commit to Georgia Campaign, and he would receive the 1994 Terry College Distinguished Alumnus award and the 2019 UGA Alumni Merit Award.
These accolades, however, fall short of meeting the level of Pete’s enormous contributions to the University of Georgia. His defining characteristics—business leader; devoted husband, father and grandfather; dedicated philanthropist—can all be seen in his tremendous generosity to UGA.
And nearly every corner of the university has benefitted as a result.
Students learned from his wealth of experience
Correll, alongside Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos, speaks at the Terry College of Business’s 2015 Mason Public Leadership Lecture.
Correll delivered the 2013 convocation for graduates of Terry College.
His family joined the UGA family as students, alumni, donors and volunteers
Correll’s family (seen here in front of Correll Hall following the building’s dedication ceremony in 2015) includes 3 other UGA graduates, and his daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Ken, joined UGA’s Parents Leadership Council while their children were students. Elizabeth and Ken would go on to become chairs of the council.
PERFORMING & VISUAL ARTS COMPLEX
In the mid-1990s, Correll was a major supporter of phase 1 of the East Campus Performing & Visual Arts Complex, which opened new facilities for the Georgia Museum of Art, Hugh Hodgson School of Music and Performing Arts Center alongside the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
THE CORRELL CENTER FOR AQUATIC ANIMAL HEALTH AT THE GEORGIA AQUARIUM
Correll and his wife, Ada Lee, gave $2.5 million to the Georgia Aquarium in 2006 to create what would become the Correll Center for Aquatic Animal Health. The first-ever aquatic veterinary teaching hospital integrated into an aquarium, the Correll Center allows UGA faculty and graduate students to research and train at one of the premier aquariums on the planet.
CORRELL HALL
The most visible element of Correll’s UGA legacy is the building that bears his name. Pete Correll was a major supporter of Terry’s Building Terry campaign which, at its 2013 launch, was the most ambitious fundraising campaign launched by an individual UGA college or unit. Terry College honored him by naming the first building in the Business Learning Community—which that campaign created—for him and Ada Lee.
COMMIT TO GEORGIA CAMPAIGN
Pete and Ada Lee were honorary co-chairs of the Commit to Georgia Campaign, which ran from 2016 to 2020 and became the most successful fundraising campaign in UGA history: raising $1.45 billion, endowing nearly 100 new faculty positions, creating more than 3,600 new scholarship awards, and building over 900,000 square feet of new learning and activity space.
CORRELL SCHOLARS PROGRAM
Pete and Ada Lee also committed $5 million to create the Correll Scholars Program in 2018, which provides need-based scholarships through the Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program along with support for Freshman College, experiential learning and mentorship activities for scholars. Students like Destiny Favors (above) have enjoyed life-changing experiences as a Correll Scholar.
Correll will be remembered by so many people in so many ways, but we will remember him as a model alumnus, a champion of education and a Damn Good Dawg.
Checking in with outgoing Alumni Board President Brian Dill