William C. Fowler, helped bring 1996 Olympic Games to city, dies at 82

William Clifford Fowler never held an official title with the group that brought the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta. But Billy Payne, who led the city’s bid, remembers him as a brilliant and essential behind-the-scenes adviser.

“Unofficially, it was a 24-hour-a-day job, and he did that, virtually abandoning his profession,” Payne said. “He was always a participant in strategy discussions. He made a very significant contribution to Atlanta’s Olympic success.”

Fowler, who led the Atlanta tax division of the former accounting firm Arthur Andersen and served as chairman of the PATH Foundation board for 25 years, died July 27 in Sea Island, Georgia, from complications of multiple sclerosis. He was 82.

His daughter, Julia Fowler Rackley, said he had lived with the disease since he was 43.

A funeral service was held Tuesday at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

“He had an indomitable spirit,” said the Rev. Bill Britt, who officiated at the service. “Nothing slowed him down.”

Ambassador Andrew Young and Shepherd Center co-founder Alana Shepherd were among the speakers at the funeral.

Fowler had served on the Shepherd Center’s board since 1993. Rackley said the center’s physical therapy staff helped him manage the effects of multiple sclerosis and became an important part of his life.

“The spinal center was so important to him,” Rackley said. “He loved the staff so much.”

Fowler’s wife, Cindy Fowler, was an official member of Atlanta’s Olympic bid effort and one of the group known as the “Atlanta Nine,” prominent Atlantans (including Payne) who worked to bring the Games to the city. Payne said the couple worked as a team, with William Fowler providing critical ideas and counsel.

As Atlanta marks the 30th anniversary year of hosting the Olympic Games, Payne credits the Fowlers with an idea he believes distinguished the city’s bid in the eyes of visiting International Olympic Committee delegates.

“They decided to entertain them in their home,” Payne said. “They said, ‘We’re going to let them see how Southerners live, how beautiful it is, how wonderful it is.’ That strategy, more than anything, is how we won the requisite number of votes.”

Payne said he continued to rely on Fowler’s intellect throughout Atlanta’s decade-long Olympic journey, from pursuing the bid to staging the Games.

“I want the world to know that, in addition to being a wonderful human being, he was really smart,” Payne said. “I depended on that, not just to win the Games but during the 10 years that it took us. When you share a passion and a dream that not too many people embrace, you are exceedingly grateful for the ones who do.”

Fowler also devoted decades to expanding Atlanta’s network of trails as a leader of the PATH Foundation. Rackley said the work was personal to him. Before he developed multiple sclerosis, she said, the two often ran and biked together on paths and trails around Atlanta.

“With his MS, he couldn’t enjoy them anymore, but he just felt it was so important that Atlantans have that lifestyle of health,” Rackley said.

She described her father as a charismatic leader whose intelligence was matched by humor and humility.

“He never wanted anything to be about him,” Rackley said. “He was so smart, but he didn’t want to be the smartest one in the room. But you quietly knew it was true.”

William Clifford Fowler was born April 23, 1944, in Evansville, Indiana, and attended high school in Terre Haute. He met his future wife, Cindy, when he was 15 and she was 17. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last December.