John Harvard Lomax

John H. Lomax , 92, a retired corporate executive and senior federal administrator, passed away on March 1, 2017, in his home in Redmond, Washington. He was the son of Regis Lomax of Macon, Georgia. Born on March 28, 1924, he grew up in Macon, graduated from Lanier High School, fell in love with Ann Davis, and married her on December 30, 1947. On the occasion of their 65 th anniversary, he emphasized to everyone that the decision to wed her had been by far the very best of his life. His favorite stories to his children and grandchildren always ended, And they married and lived happily ever after! During World War II Lomax served honorably in Africa and Europe as a sergeant in the U. S. Army Air Force. Thereafter he participated as a captain in the Air Force Reserves from 1948 to 1965. He entered the University of Georgia at Athens in 1946 and, after only two years, completed his B. A. in Business Administration in 1948. He later received a post-graduate degree in the Executive Program for Professional Business Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and taught numerous courses in business management. Starting in 1949, for the first few years of his career Lomax specialized in personnel management for factories in Georgia and North Carolina and then for Allstate Insurance in Charlotte. In 1958 he became Vice President of American Credit Corporation of Charlotte, where he was promoted to Executive Vice President. While holding that position he won the United Appeals Mr. Mecklenburg Award and the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedom Foundation for his Its Great to Be an American campaign. American Credit also acknowledged the significant improvements in employee productivity, reduced turnover, and customer service that resulted from Lomaxs oversight of personnel. In Charlotte Lomax served as coordinator for the City-County Energy Conservation Task Force, and was on the board of directors of the Charlotte Athletic Club. He was a division manager of the United Arts Fund Drive and a member of the Charlotte Area Mental Health Board. After 22 years in the Lomax familys beloved Charlotte, in 1976 Lomax accepted an offer from Associates Corporation of North America in Dallas, Texas. By this time he had developed expertise, beyond personnel matters, in managing the following: purchasing, printing, advertising, corporate communications, governmental affairs, and general corporate administration. At Associates he became Executive Vice President for Administration. He oversaw all administrative matters at Associates-including the largest corporate move in Dallas history to that date-from 1976 until his initial retirement in 1987. He was also responsible for constructing the original, 135,000 square-foot Associates office building and the additional, 400,000 square-foot, adjacent Associates office complex. The Associates CEO, Reece Overcash, observed that these huge relocation and construction projects were accomplished in typical John Lomax fashion-on time and on budget. During his decades in Dallas, Lomax was a civic leader. He participated on the board of directors and executive committee of the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas and of Junior Achievement. He also sat on the boards of the Dallas Summer Musicals and the Texas Society to Prevent Blindness. He chaired the 1980 fund drive for the St. Paul Hospital of Dallas, where he served as the first vice president of the board of trustees and as chairman of the planning committee. He further headed a thorough study of infections, accidents, and injuries at St. Pauls that was used to reform hospital management. Finally, he served on the boards of directors of General Telephone of the Southwest and of Interfirst Bank. After his 1987 retirement from Associates, Lomax agreed to help administer Resolution Trust for the federal government. There, as Regional Director, he oversaw real-estate transactions in the tens of billions of dollars in twenty-nine states. Lomax is survived by his wife, Ann, his daughter, Jan (Benny), his son, Harvey, and his two grandsons, Will and John.