His name may not ring as familiar today as those of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, but for many in metro Atlanta’s emerging tech community of the 1970s and 1980s, John P. Imlay Jr. was a giant.
Imlay, who grew up in Savannah and studied at Georgia Tech, took a small company in receivership in 1970 — Management Science America Inc — and turned it into a software developer that at one time was the fifth-largest in the nation.
He sparked Angel investing in individuals long before it became fashionable — backing Chris Klaus and Tom Noonan as they built the formerly Atlanta-based ISS into a billion-dollar security behemoth. He also convinced Georgia Tech leaders to consider partnerships with the private sector at a time when the school was primarily focused on military business.
“He saw things that were 20 years, 30 years ahead of their time,” said friend and former Metro Atlanta Chamber leader Sam Williams. “And he took risks putting his money behind what others didn’t see.”
Said friend, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, “Hundreds of people felt that John Imlay was their best friend. And he was. His heart was huge, and he never said no when he could help a friend, his community or our nation.”
Imlay, who also was a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons since 1991 and longtime friend of team owner Arthur Blank, died Wednesday of a heart attack at home. He was 78.
“Everyone at the Falcons and across the Blank Family of Businesses is saddened by John Imlay’s passing,’ the team said in a statement. “We will remember John as a highly successful entrepreneur and pioneer in the technology industry; a loving husband, father and grandfather; a true friend; and someone who was sure to make you laugh no matter how bad his jokes were.”
He was theatrical. At various company pep rallies, he bought to the stage an eagle, a fox, a lion, a tiger and even Clint Eastwood’s orangutan to wow the crowds.
He was a joker. He once dressed as a ringmaster and at another meeting played a Stradivarius — with lousy results — before bringing on a professional violinist.
But it was his business acumen that stood out. He sold Management Science America, whose revenue had gone from $2 million in 1970 to $280 million 19 years later, to Dun & Bradstreet Corp. for $333 million in 1989. He later created Imlay Investments, Inc., a private investment firm that manages capital and provides venture funds for small technology companies.
“John was a consummate leader,” said Dave Gould, a former MSA staffer and a general partner along at Atlanta venture capital firm TechOperators. “He was a mentor to all of us. He was a great guy.”
Funeral arrangements for Imlay were not immediately available.
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