Frank Stone came from California to Atlanta in 1968 to take computer courses at Georgia Tech. Hardly anything in his background suggested the direction his career path would take him.
He had no training in marketing or management. Wine was a hobby of his, nothing more. Yet after a few years of selling real estate and developing apartment buildings near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he opened one Skinflints wine shop in 1974, then another, and kept going.
"Frank's Skinflints shops around Atlanta were cutting-edge stores for their time and place. Atlanta was a minor wine market when he started, but he changed the landscape," said Jerry Neff of Birmingham, Ala., president of Vineyard Brands Inc.
"Frank helped demystify wine," he added, "doing away with the snob vocabulary that had attached itself to wine drinking."
Frank Henry Stone Jr., 67, of Atlanta, died March 29 at Hospice Atlanta of lung cancer. His memorial service is 2 p.m. on Sunday at Peachtree Christian Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Hank Stone Memorial Fund at Peachtree Childtown, 1580 Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA 30309. Mr. and Mrs. Stone established this fund 12 years ago in memory of their late son to provide daycare options for children with special needs. SouthCare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers is in charge of arrangements.
Bill Dunaway, former mayor of Marietta and a restaurateur, said Mr. Stone "had the best marketing brain I ever saw. Frank gave countless presentations to his Skinflints clerks and customers so they would be well versed on the best wines."
Mr. Stone didn't limit his fine wine instruction to Atlanta. A past president of the Society of Wine Educators, headquartered in Washington, D.C., he wrote the organization's first instructors' manual for members nationwide.
In the 1980s. Mr. Stone sold his wine shops and was hired by Empire Distributors Inc., to head its fine wine division. He provided sales gains month after month.
Empire's president and CEO, David Kahn of Atlanta, credited Mr. Stone's success to his intelligence, his ability to translate his extensive knowledge of wines into the best ways to market them, and to the relationships he developed with high-profile figures in the wine industry here and abroad.
He had an appetite for research as well as a sensitive palate for wines. His wife, Dee Stone, said a book dealer once told them Mr. Stone had the most complete library of books on wine he had ever seen, "and Frank read at least a portion of all of them," she added. Not only did he retain most of his research, she said, he also had an amazing recall of wines he had tasted years before.
"Frank was a gregarious guy who seemed to know everybody in the wine business," Mr. Dunaway said. "He brought people from all over the world to Atlanta to introduce their wines here, and Frank and Dee traveled to France, Italy, Spain, Germany, South Africa and Australia to judge wines there. He also ran an annual wine festival at the Cloisters on Sea Island throughout the 1980s."
In retirement, Mr. Stone revived his passion for cars, acquiring several vintage Chevrolets from the '60s and '70s. His prize was a renovated bright yellow 1972 Chevelle SS convertible he called his "Yellow Fever," which he exhibited at the 2009 World of Wheels at the Georgia Dome, winning best in class.
As a classic car owner, Mr. Stone realized there wasn't a facility in Atlanta dedicated to the storage of fine automobiles. As was his custom, he researched the subject for months, compiling four thick binders of information on necessary security measures and environmental controls, plus business plans for existing car storage facilities elsewhere.
A few years ago he enlisted a longtime friend, Gary Tanner of Rome, to assist him in the opening of My Car Vault, a 15,000-square-foot building on South Atlanta Road that currently houses 45 special cars.
Also surviving are a daughter, Jenny Stone of East Point, and two sisters, Cindy Kling and Sally Butler, both of Marietta.
About the Author
