Mark White, 59: ASO stagehand; magazine founder

On the final night of the performance,  Robert Shaw, the ASO conductor at the time, called Mr. White and co-worker Robert Russell out to take the final bow. And to publicly express his gratitude.

"I'm glad we still had our suits on," said Mr. Russell of Augusta. "It was embarrassing but also very nice to have our music director thank us for making it work."

Mr. White had never told Liz, his wife of 30 years, about the curtain call.  She learned about it just a few days ago. Mr. White was quiet, low-key and unassuming that way.

"Not a huge talker," said Mrs. White of Dunwoody.

Yet when it came to the local chapter of the Thyroid Cancer Support Group, Mr. White stood out. When Mrs. White sent out an e-mail about his demise, replies poured in from folk the Braves fan had talked to at meetings or simply via telephone.

"The e-mails I got back showed what a difference he made for them," she said, "and how much he had helped them. His attitude was amazing."

Initially,  Mr. White's condition was misdiagnosed. A doctor said he suffered from a paralyzed vocal cord. Three years later, in 2000, a biopsy was performed on a lump that appeared. The proper diagnosis was made.

On Saturday, Mark Ferrell White died at his home in Dunwoody from complications of thyroid cancer. He was 59. His funeral will be held at noon Tuesday at All Saints Catholic Church in Dunwoody. Metro Embalming and Crematory in Conyers is handling arrangements.

In 1965, Mr. White and his family moved to Atlanta from Kinston, N.C. He was 14.  He was a 1968 graduate of Decatur's Gordon High School.

In 1983, Mr. White  signed on with the ASO, where he worked until the late 1990s. He traveled with the symphony on its tour of Europe in 1989. Be it at home or on the road, he and Mr. Russell worked well together.

"When we set a stage, Mark and I had a system in which we could have it set and ready to go in about an hour," Mr. Russell said. "It was a lot of logistical stuff and a lot of labor. He was a very smart person and although he was a symphonic stagehand, he could have also been an engineer or something else."

Nearly 30 years ago, Mark and Liz White founded Atlanta Parent magazine. He had always helped run the publication  and was its paste-up artist while employed at the ASO. He left the symphony in 1997 to join his wife as co-publisher and business manager.

His ability to organize an event was a plus for the magazine when it sponsored shows like the annual Family Block Party, held on the Atlanta campus of Mercer University.

"There were so many things he did at the publication," she said, "but I realized after our first event how his background helped us understand how to put together an event. Our goal with Atlanta Parent was that, if every parent picks up the magazine and finds one useful piece of information, we are doing our job."

Additional survivors include a daughter, Laura Powell of Decatur;  two brothers, Dale White of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Clay White of Sandy Springs.