Gary Dewberry saw the writing on the wall, but his son, then a University of Georgia quarterback, failed to read it.
In 1981, the elder Dewberry had tried to steer his son toward Georgia Tech, but John signed with UGA. When the Milton High alum was relegated to fourth-string back-up, he realized what many a young man who think he knows it all comes to understand. Dad, sometimes, is right. John transferred to Tech after one season, was named a starter in 1983, and led Tech to victory over UGA in 1984 and 1985.
"He floated the idea and then I had to come to it my own way," said John K. Dewberry of Dewberry Capital Corp., a real estate development firm he founded and runs. "I was delighted and my father was delighted that it worked out, on the field and off."
Mr. Dewberry endured serious health setbacks, but rebounded. He was born with a heart defect, and at 21, underwent corrective surgery. Years later, he had a second emergency surgery operation to insert an aortic valve. In 1984, he suffered a major stroke that left him unable to speak and barely able to see, yet he recovered. Finally, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which he died from Monday at Hospice Atlanta. He was 74.
A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Roswell's Northbrook United Methodist Church in Roswell.
Mr. Dewberry was born in Lanett, Ala., near West Point, and attended the University of Virginia. He joined Marriott Corp.'s commercial food services division and held various posts in various cities with the chain. Along the way, he became a preacher and presided over Goldvein Baptist Church in Goldvein, Va. He left Marriott to serve as president of Servomation Corp., a food service operation in Boston, Mass.
In 1975, the family moved to Atlanta, where Mr. Dewberry bought the Old Stand and Snack Co., and renamed it Dewberry Food Services/Kada Kitchens, a food vending service. He retired in the 1990s.
Four months after Mr. Dewberry suffered a stroke in the mid-1980s, the Roswell resident ran The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race with his sons, John and Douglas. He ran between the two of them because his vision was still weak. He ran marathons in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Nashville and Atlanta after his full recovery.
A cyclist, he took part in five tours with BRAG, or Bike Rides Across Georgia. One day while riding with friends on the Silver Comet Trail he noticed specks of blood in his saliva, his first sign of lung cancer.
For 24 years, Mr. Dewberry had been married to his second wife, Charlotte Green Neville. "He was competitive, a fantastic listener and concentrated on other people rather than himself," she said. "He was a combination of gentleness and firmness."
Additional survivors include another son, Douglas Dewberry of Atlanta; a daughter, Diana Dewberry McKee of Akron, Ohio; a sister, Carlene Adamson of Lanett, Ala.; a stepson, Rich Neville of Cumming; a stepdaughter, Julie Neville of Atlanta; and nine grandchildren.
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