wfn.org | Philanthropist D.W. Brooks, 'Mr. Methodist,' dies at 97

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 12, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-31-71B{420}

By Alice Smith*

ATLANTA (UMNS) -- D.W. Brooks, a businessman with a missionary's heart who
spent his life serving the Methodist Church and helping farmers increase
their yields, died Aug. 5 at Piedmont Hospital. He was 97.

"There is no way to evaluate comprehensively what he meant to the Kingdom of
God and especially to the United Methodist Church," said his long-time
friend and former pastor, retired Bishop Bevel Jones. "He was known in these
parts for years as 'Mr. Methodist.' "

"Everybody knew they could talk to D.W. Brooks about the church, about its
problems and opportunities, and he would always have good advice and he
would help," said the Rev. James T. Laney, former president of Emory
University and U.S. ambassador to North Korea. "He believed in the church
and he believed in education, and he was very generous with his time and
effort and money."

At the same time, Brooks was the catalyst behind an agricultural revolution
that enabled farmers to greatly increase their yields and incomes. He also
founded a farmers' cooperative in 1933 that became Gold Kist and a
diversified Fortune 500 company.

Always active, Brooks had slowed down in the past two years but still went
faithfully to his Gold Kist office. He was almost always there for the
weekly devotions and often introduced the speaker, said the Rev. Mike
Cordle, his pastor at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

A memorial service for Brooks will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 21 at St. Mark, where
he had been a member for almost half a century. A private graveside service
was held Aug. 7. 

Brooks' service to the Methodist church embraced all levels, from the local
to the international. Often he combined his business trips and
responsibilities as adviser to seven presidents with his duties as vice
chair of the Methodist mission board, a position he held for many years. He
would conduct his business in the daytime and meet with Methodist
missionaries at night.

"He had a world vision not only of the church but of life, and he wanted the
church to fulfill its world mission," said Laney, who met Brooks while
serving as missionary to Korea. Brooks had a key role in Laney's becoming
dean of Candler School of Theology and later president of Emory. 

Brooks spoke at lay rallies around the country; served as chair of the
episcopal committee for Georgia and the Southeastern Jurisdiction; was a lay
delegate to seven General Conferences; and helped plan the 1972 General
Conference in Atlanta. He was a benefactor of Emory and Candler, and was an
active trustee of the university. In his honor, Gold Kist and Cotton States
Insurance, a spin-off of Gold Kist, created the D.W. and Ruth Brooks chair
in world evangelism at Candler.

Perhaps his most enduring contribution to the United Methodist Church, said
North Georgia Bishop Lindsey Davis, is the churchwide Ministerial Education
Fund, which grew out of efforts to support theological education at Candler
and then spread to the jurisdiction and denomination.

Brooks' Christian commitment was rooted in his local church. He enabled St.
Mark to acquire needed computer equipment and later provided a lead gift for
the church's restoration program.

Brooks supported St. Mark's recent move to embrace the gay and lesbian
community living around the church, and he was equally supportive of the
church's leadership in the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, as it
sought to welcome African Americans into its worship services.

"He stood firm on that one with me," said the Rev. Dow Kirkpatrick, who was
the church's pastor from 1957 to 1962. When some members threatened to
withhold their pledges, Brooks took Kirkpatrick to lunch "and said with a
twinkle in his eye, 'We can beat them at that game.' D.W. put up a lot of
personal resources so the budget stood steady."

Brooks grew up in Royston, Ga. He attended Royston Methodist Church and was
converted during a camp meeting service. At age 16, he enrolled at the
University of Georgia to study agriculture, and three years later was
teaching there. He read, studied, and experimented to find the types of
seeds, fertilizers and insecticides that would increase farmers' yields -
and incomes.

After working for a cooperative that failed, Brooks organized the Cotton
Producers Association, which became Gold Kist. It has helped farmers grow
more products and market them worldwide. 
His devotion to helping farmers was a direct outgrowth of his Christian
philosophy. "We have to follow the Great Commission, number one, and then do
all the good you can," he said.

He is survived by his wife Ruth; a daughter, Nancy Jones of Rocky Mount,
N.C.; a son, Dr. D. William Brooks Jr. of Jacksonville; seven grandchildren;
and six great-grandchildren.
# # #
*Smith is executive director of the Georgia United Methodist Communications
Council.

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