Coleman Movers & Shakers — Georgia SBA Icon Eugene Merriday, Sr. Passes at 79

December 23, 2015

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Movers & Shakers

Georgia SBA Icon Eugene Merriday, Sr. Passes at 79

eugeneEugene Merriday, Sr. married Barbara 0. Saunders at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York on August 17, 1963. They later moved to Atlanta where he received a Broker’s License from the Georgia Institute of Real Estate and became the Vice­ President of Harold Dawson Realty.

He also worked at Citizens Trust Bank as a Loan Officer and became the first African-.American to hold a Senior Office in the United States Small Business Administration’s Southern Region.

He retired from the Georgia District office of the United States Small Business Administration in 1999 and recently culminated his second retirement after 15 years of service as the Executive Director of The Fulton County Economic Development Commission.

He also served in the United States Military and is a Honorably Discharged Veteran of the National Guard and Army.

Eugene Merriday, Sr. pledged the Alpha Iota Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. at Morgan State University in 1957 and is a Life Member with 58 years of service. He also served on the Board of Directors for the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, was a member of Pine Acres Town and Country Club, Membership Campaigner for the YMCA, Connecting Link, and Life Member of the Morgan State University National Alumni Association, where he was a Dean’s List graduate in 1958.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Barbara 0. Merriday. He is survived by children, Tanya, Jodi and Eugene, Jr.; and grandchildren, Brandon Merriday, Kamau Austin, Andre Terrell (Merriday), Norisa Merriday and Tracy Merriday.