John and Suzanne Lastinger give UGA students their daily bread
By: Charles McNair
Each trip they make from their home in Valdosta to the University of Georgia campus, John Lastinger (BA ’84) and his wife, Suzanne, see hundreds of students. Some of those promising young people have hot meals thanks to the Lastingers. In 2024, the couple worked with UGA to establish the John and Suzanne Lastinger Family Scholarship Fund to subsidize meal plans for students.
“The idea was to fund a scholarship that gives three square meals a day to Bulldogs in need,” John said. “Suzanne and I are simple folks from south Georgia, and that plan really resonated with us. We felt like we could make a difference.”
Showing their love
The Lastingers’ scholarship is a material expression of their abiding love for UGA, a bond long in the making.
John led the Dawgs to a major upset against the Texas Longhorns in the 1980 Cotton Bowl game.
In the early 1980s, John started at quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs under Coach Vince Dooley. He led the team to a Southeastern Conference championship in 1982 and an appearance in the 1983 Sugar Bowl against Penn State. Famously, John also scored the winning touchdown against a heavily favored Texas Longhorns team in the 1984 Cotton Bowl, one of the biggest upsets in Bulldog history.
John and Suzanne’s daughter, Lindsay Sterry, carried on the family tradition, earning her BA in 2015 in Exercise & Sports Science. All that Bulldog love was in the room when the Lastingers met in 2024 with representatives from UGA.
“We sat down and reviewed an impressive list of ways we could give back to Georgia,” John said. “It was almost like a menu – academic scholarships and post-graduate scholarships and so much more.”
The Lastingers had been donors to the Terry College of Business, UGA sports programs, and the Redcoat Marching Band. Now, though, they saw a long-term opportunity to help that deeply spoke to them. John has supported the Boys & Girls Clubs of Valdosta for three decades. A goal of that organization is outreach to feed Valdostans in need. John’s sensitivity to hunger issues, along with his and Suzanne’s whole-hearted love for UGA, led to the new scholarship in their names.
“It’s just hard for me to imagine life without Athens and UGA,” John said. “It’s way more than just the football – it’s the university, the people I’ve met, the continuing relationships from college.
“Suzanne and I consider that our giving helps students who will someday love UGA just as much as we do. That feels like the right thing to do.”
A UGA career path
John and Suzanne grew up in Valdosta, where both their families go back generations. They met at a friend’s wedding party in 1986 and married in 1989. Soon, they were parents to Lindsay and Jake, their son. Suzanne majored in interior design at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., graduating in 1989 … “but I feel like I went to UGA, I’ve spent so much time there with John,” she laughed.
John, Suzanne and their family cheer for the Dawgs.
John left football behind after graduation. (“Too many knee surgeries,” he explained.) In December 1984, he started at WGXA TV as a sportscaster in Macon.
“I got a 2 p.m.-to-midnight reporting shift,” he said. “My Macon friends worked 8 to 5, so I never saw them. I knew pretty quickly I did not want to do this with my life.”
After a few unsettled years, John met a man on the golf course – he loves golf, and boasts a handicap of 6 – who worked with Robinson-Humphrey, a southeast regional brokerage firm. That round turned into a job in 1992 … and a career.
Start giving back early
John has now worked 34 years as a financial advisor. Today, he is with Stifel, a St. Louis-based financial services giant with 135 years of service and 400-plus offices in the United States. The stability and UGA network connections have given John and Suzanne the means, and the perspective, to support the school they love.
“My advice for anyone who loves UGA,” John said, “is to start giving early. Even when you think you can’t, you can start the process.”
He continues, “I know so many people like me who have the deepest love for UGA – and it’s for the people and what the school stands for, not just the buildings or the football stadium.
“If you feel that same way, you don’t have to wait. There’s a way to contribute, even if you feel you aren’t yet in perfect financial position. You’ll look back one day and say, Gosh, I could have given more along the way.”
