George Priester, 57: Wanted to help people see the world

Maps were like precious jewels to George Priester. A veteran of the travel industry, one map of a particular location would never do.

“He’d always get three or four maps of the same place, because one might have more information than the other,” said Rick Alexander, his life partner of 29 years. “And he wanted all of the information he could find about a place. And then he was excited to share that information with others.”

Priester, who ran Priester Associates for the past 30 years, spent his career doing business development for cruise lines and tourist destinations, connecting travel agents with the locations his clients offered.

Though his health began to decline a year ago, Priester was sure that after his diabetes was under control and his planned knee replacement in April, he’d eventually be able to take the trip to Japan he’d been researching.

George Weathersbee Priester, of Atlanta, died Feb. 1 from complications of bronchitis and abdominal surgery. He was 57.

A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta. Castellaw Funeral Home was in charge of the cremation.

A native of LaGrange, Priester got into the travel business because of his parents, who traveled often. He worked part-time at travel agencies while he was in high school, college and graduate school. In 1977, Priester earned a bachelor’s in international studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also did extensive language studies in French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. He earned a master’s of business administration from the University of Georgia in 1979.

In the early-‘80s Priester served as an Atlanta-based regional sales representative for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. Before opening his company in 1983, he spent a year working as the sales director for a company that offered charter flights from Atlanta to Europe.

In his spare time he studied and traveled to various destinations offered by his clients, so that when he spoke with travel agents he could answer nearly all of their questions.

“He went to Cuba last summer as part of a cultural exchange, because he thought that marker would be developing and he might be able to represent a tour company there,” said Wayne Godfrey his business associate of 13 years.

Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition, said he remembers working with Priester when he too was in the travel industry.

“He was widely recognized for his professional conduct, integrity, and work ethic,” the former mayor said.