Business founder thanked hundreds

For the past nine years, Anne Colgin of Atlanta sent Thanksgiving cards to 1,200 friends and acquaintances. In part, it was her way of expressing thanks that her breast cancer was in remission, said her husband, Robert Colgin.

It also was typical of her outgoing, highly organized personality to send cards to that many people, said her friend, Elizabeth Buttimer of Bowdon.

“She was the epitome of organized, and she used that skill as a strategic business planner and in her responsibilities as a hostess,” Ms. Buttimer said.

Mrs. Colgin became a banker at a time when very few women entered the field, starting in 1966 as the first female in the management training program of the former Fulton National Bank of Atlanta.

She later co-founded a marketing research company for the financial services industry.

All the while, she volunteered for various causes and hosted elegant parties, keeping track of her guests’ food and drink preferences on her computer, said Ms. Buttimer.

“She managed to keep a delicate balance between being a lady and being a career woman,” she said.

Mrs. Colgin, 64, died Sept. 22 of breast cancer at her Buckhead home. A memorial service will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Cathedral of St. Philip. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Colgin was reared in Burlington, N.C., but her family had roots in Georgia. Her great-grandfather was James Milton Smith, Georgia’s governor from 1872-1877.

She earned an economics degree from Hollins College before entering the banking field.

Like other women of her generation, Mrs. Colgin was brought up to be a homemaker, Ms. Buttimer said.

“We used to talk about how we were born between two worlds, because somewhere along the way the rules and expectations changed, and we were expected to have careers. Anne was a pioneer in that,” she said.

When Mrs. Colgin started working in the finance industry, bankers weren’t allowed to have hair below their collars, so she twisted her long hair into a chignon, Ms. Buttimer said.

In 1981, Mrs. Colgin co-founded Synergistics Research Corp., where she held the title of president. The Atlanta-based company provides consumer and small business marketing research for the financial services industry. She retired from the company in 1999, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.

Mrs. Colgin enjoyed growing roses and had 40 varieties in her garden. She was interested in architecture, and she was an opera buff and had served on the board of the Atlanta Opera, her husband said.

Other survivors are brothers Samuel Moore of Burlington; Thomas Moore of Warrenton, Va.; and Allen Moore Jr. of Wilmington, N.C.