Paul Duke, ‘Father of Peachtree Corners,’ dead at 84

Where others saw nothing but a scruffy piece of land and a smattering of pine trees, Paul Duke saw a gleaming vision of the future.

In the late 1960s, he dreamed of a new type of suburb in Gwinnett County. The real estate developer founded Peachtree Corners Inc., and the planned community of the same name.

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LOUIE FAVORITE/File photo / 1996

Paul Duke earned two engineering degrees from Georgia Tech and played football under coach Bobby Dodd.

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As the “Father of Peachtree Corners,” as he came to be known, Mr. Duke looked past the absence of telephone poles, sewer or power lines and envisioned a way of life decades ahead of its time.

“He wanted a place where people could live and work and play, where you could do all three close by and not spend your time commuting from place to place,” said his wife, Jean Fraser Duke of Atlanta.

The memorial service for Paul Anderson Duke is 11 a.m. Friday at North Avenue Presbyterian Church. Mr. Duke, 84, of Atlanta died at Presbyterian Village on Tuesday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease and a fall. The body was cremated. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Duke earned bachelor’s degrees in mechanical and industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. In 1982, the school gave him its highest alumni award.

An All-American center under legendary Tech football coach Bobby Dodd, Mr. Duke relished being part of a team, his wife said. After Mr. Duke’s father dropped out of his life when his parents divorced, he idolized coach Dodd as a father figure whose guidance meant the world to him.

After he graduated, Mr. Duke played professionally for a year with the now-defunct New York Yankees football club, an All-American Football Conference team. Sports, his wife said, gave him the fortitude to push ahead in business.

“He had a lot of drive and a lot of self-confidence,” she said, “and probably a lot of that came from having succeeded in football.”

Mr. Duke spent eight years at Atlantic Steel Co., then three decades helping to reshape the landscape of Gwinnett County. He played a major role in organizing Technology Park Atlanta Inc. and took part in numerous civic activities.

Still, he always found time for his monthly poker club with some of Atlanta’s biggest movers and shakers, all dear friends for decades, said his son-in-law Hunter Tison of Atlanta.

Their pranks were legendary, Mr. Tison said. Once, one of them gave a fellow member a live jackass. The next time, a monkey was given to a startled recipient.

“They kept things going like that all the time,” Mr. Tison said. “It was mayhem around them, so much fun to watch. They never stopped picking on each other and kept that college friendship going all through life.”

“Paul was just a great person with a great sense of humor,” said John Aderhold of Atlanta, a friend since they roomed together at Georgia Tech.

The secret to Mr. Duke’s success, Mr. Aderhold said, was that “he would get an idea and keep at it until he made it work.”

“Paul had a whole lot of determination and a whole lot of tenacity,” his wife said. “Challenges were just very stimulating to him, and there was never an end to them. They would just keep going.

“He was never satisfied, like I am, to put a little bow on something and tie it up and put it away. He always had a vision in front of him that more can be done.”

Additional survivors include three daughters, Linda Duke Pierce of Atlanta, Jennie “Ginger” Duke of Dawsonville and Laura Duke Tison of Atlanta; a son, Fraser McDonald Duke of Atlanta; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.