From ticket counter to chief executive's office, David C. Garrett Jr. knew every nook and cranny of Delta Air Lines. He worked his way up through the ranks and earned the love and respect of a number of co-workers along the way.
Mr. Garrett, widely known as Dave, died Saturday at his Dawsonville home from natural causes, family members said. He was 89. Arrangements for a memorial service are being worked out, said his son, David “Dave” Clyde Garrett, III. SouthCare Cremation and Funeral Society, Alpharetta, is in charge of arrangements.
A native of Pickens, S.C., Mr. Garrett joined Delta Air Lines as a reservation agent in 1946, shortly after he returned from service in the Army Air Corps during World War II. His son said the allure of aviation was already in his father’s system, so taking a job with Delta seemed like a natural move. Over the next 41 years, he helped Delta grow from a small regional carrier into the nation's fourth-largest airline amid some of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the American airline industry.
“Dave Garrett was the very embodiment of Delta: a keeper of its invaluable traditions but also a leader who led the expansion into the Western U.S., elevating the airline into a powerful national carrier,” said former Delta CEO Jerry Grinstein in a prepared statement. “It was during Dave's tenure that the people of Delta gave a 767 to the company, a perfect symbol of what makes Delta unique. That gift also represents the continuing trust and respect at every level of the company that is Dave's very special legacy.”
One of Mr. Garrett’s proudest moments was in 2009, when a Boeing 777-200LR bearing his name and signature was dedicated. That's a massive, high-tech aircraft that can deliver 400 passengers nonstop to any point on the planet.
“To see that big triple-7 sitting there and it had his signature on the side of the plane, well it meant the world to him,” his son said. “Because while he may have retired, he really never left Delta. He loved Delta and its people until the day he died.”
Former employees remember Mr. Garrett as a personable man who cared deeply for others. Jackie B. Pate, who retired from Delta in 2003 as the general manager of corporate communications, said she will always remember Mr. Garrett coming to her table at Melear's Barbecue in Union City to say hello.
“He saw me, and more than that, he knew my name,” she said. “I think that impressed me more than anything, because I hadn’t been with the company long at that time. But he thought enough to come and say hello to my husband and me.”
The people of Delta were much more than employees to Mr. Garrett, his son said, adding, “He always took the interest of the people of the company to heart.”
Bob Coggin, who retired from Delta in 1998 as the executive vice president of marketing, said personal relationships and aircraft maintenance were two of Mr. Garrett’s strongest points.
“He fostered an environment at Delta that made its aircraft maintenance department the envy of the industry,” Mr. Coggin said. “And when I heard about his passing, I just had to take a moment, because it wasn’t like I was hearing about a guy I worked for 20 years ago, but it was like hearing your grandfather died.”
There was nothing fabricated about the family atmosphere at Delta during Mr. Garrett’s time at the helm, his son said. He met his first wife, Lu Thomasson, while they both worked in reservations, their son said. The two wed in 1947, after which she left the company, and they had been married nearly 50 years when she died in 1996.
“I’ve always said I was from the biggest family in the state of Georgia, because it has included not only our immediate family, but every Delta employee who ever lived,” his son said. “That’s how he always felt, and that’s how I feel.”
Mr. Garrett is also survived by his wife of more than 13 years, the Rev. Eleana Manuel Garrett, of Dawsonville; a daughter, Dr. Virginia Galvin of Marietta; another son, Charles T. Garrett of Savannah; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
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