Ryan Gainey of Decatur was a renowned landscape and garden designer, creating public and private gardens around the world. His designs, along with his own gardens, were featured in national and international publications over the years.
Gainey also used his skills to support high-level and charitable events in Atlanta, ranging from the 1996 Olympic Committee Party to the annual Garden of Eden Ball at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Jennings Ryan Gainey, 72, died July 29 in a fire at his second home in Oglethorpe County when he apparently entered the burning house, trying to save his dogs, according to Oglethorpe County authorities. Gainey had written on his website, “I share my life with many living things, but few are as precious to me as my Jack Russell terriers.”
Gainey’s long-time friend Brooks Garcia said the dogs “were to him the children he never had.”
Gainey and his dogs were well-known in the Lexington community, where he opened his turn-of-the-century Victorian house for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s Spring Ramble in 2015, said Frances Hansford, co-chair of the event.
“I asked Mr. Gainey if he would work with volunteers in the community to give tours of his home for the Ramble, and we were so happy when he said yes,” recalled Hansford, Gainey’s neighbor on Church Street in Lexington. “But he said first, he wanted me to come over and have a tour of the house with him, which I did. He said the main thing he wanted was that the hosts and volunteers be dog friendly, and when visitors exited the house to go to the rose garden in the back that they remember to close the gate so his dogs wouldn’t get out. He loved his dogs so much.
“He endeared himself to the community here,” she added. “He was a genius at garden design. We’re very lucky he came here, and it will never be the same without him.”
Mary Pat Matheson, president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, called Gainey a “Renaissance man” and said Gainey created designs for the Garden of Eden Ball for over a decade. She said he was also a founder of the popular Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, which has showcased a dozen private gardens, including Gainey’s, every Mother’s Day since its beginning in 1984.
“The tour has become a beloved tradition, and I can’t even imagine how many people it has touched over the years,” she said. “Beauty and the arts were in his DNA. He could transform a tent into a magical place with his fanciful floral designs.”
Matheson said the Atlanta Botanical Gardens will dedicate a bench in Gainey’s memory.
Gainey, a native of Hartsville, South Carolina, owned Ryan Gainey & Co., in Decatur. He was the son of the late Cecil Wilson Gainey and Ruth Catoe Gainey. He received a degree in horticulture from Clemson University.
Gainey headed up the design team for the visitors center and its garden at the South Carolina State Botanical Garden at Clemson University. Additional projects include the Garden of Poetry and Prose in Decatur, Woody House in East Hampton, New York, and Le Petit Fontanille in Provence, France, among others.
In addition to Atlanta Botanical Garden events, Gainey supported the Swan House Ball to benefit the Atlanta History Center and the Opera Ball for the Atlanta Opera. He also designed patron parties for the Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Rockwell and Rings exhibits for the High Museum of Art. He coordinated the International Olympic Committee party at the Woodruff Art Center during Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic games, served as honorary ambassador and board of trustees member for the Southeastern Flower Show and as a board member for Atlanta’s Cherokee Garden Library.
Survivors include three siblings; Ronald E. Gainey of Plant City, Florida; Jennifer Sullivan of West Columbia, South Carolina; and Philip Gainey, M.D., of Tybee Island.
A memorial service will be held at a later date in South Carolina. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Society.
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