Photo: J.W. Fanning was UGA's first vice president for services.
Photo: J.W. Fanning was UGA's first vice president for services.
By Larry B. Dendy
John William Fanning, 91, a pioneer in community development and leadership training in Georgia and the first vice president for services at the university, died July 27 at his home in Athens.
Fanning was associated with the university for 50 years--as a student, an extension agent, a faculty member and an administrator. After his retirement, he was instrumental in creating the Leadership Georgia program.
"J.W. Fanning dedicated his entire career to the improvement of the quality of life for the people and communities throughout the state of Georgia," said S. Eugene Younts, UGA's vice president for public service and outreach. "His accomplishments and contributions were legendary, and he will be missed by the university community and all Georgians."
As an agricultural extension agent in the 1930s and 1940s, Fanning traveled throughout Georgia teaching farmers new agricultural practices and helping them adopt new technology to increase yields.
After World War II, Fanning and industrialist Cason Callaway created the "100 Better Farms Program," which raised $700,000 to create 100 demonstration farms to show farmers how to revitalize soil depleted of nutrients, and how to use modern farm equipment and techniques.
In the 1950s, Fanning spearheaded the movement to encourage Georgia city and county officials to work across municipal and county lines on planning and economic development initiatives. Those early efforts at regional cooperation led to creation of the state's area planning and development commissions, now known as Regional Development Commissions.
In 1971, Fanning and a group of state leaders met to talk about the need for an organized program to help young Georgians develop leadership skills. Out of that meeting came the Leadership Georgia program, which has trained more than 2,000 people and for which Fanning was a mentor and consultant for 16 years.
Fanning created UGA's Institute of Community and Area Development and was its director from 1961 until 1968. In 1965, he became UGA's first vice president for services, overseeing a program that provided information and assistance to citizens in all 159 Georgia counties. He retired from UGA in 1972.
Born Aug. 14, 1905, in Washington, Ga., Fanning received a bachelor's degree from UGA in 1927 and a master's in 1928. He became a county extension agent in 1929, and later was an extension economist.
He was associate director of community service and continuing education, and in 1956 became head of the department of agricultural economics and chairman of the division of agricultural economics, a position he held until becoming director of the Institute of Community and Area Development.
