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Atlanta Jewish History Talks (Winter 2021)
THE RISE OF RICH'S
THURSDAY FEB 11th | 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
FREE TO MEMBERS | EVERYONE ELSE $10
Join the foremost historian on Rich’s department store, Jeff Clemmons, as he discusses the store that became synonymous with Atlanta and tied to the cultural, social, architectural, and philanthropical fabric of Atlanta. The class will be moderated by president of the Rich Foundation, Tom Asher.
BIOGRAPHY
Although born in Mobile, Alabama, Jeff Clemmons considers himself an Atlantan, having lived in the metropolitan area for more than thirty years. His family has an even older connection to the city with his great-great-grandfather Archibald Clemmons fighting in the Atlanta Campaign, including the Battle of Atlanta, during the American Civil War. Clemmons has a degree in business administration from Reinhardt University and a degree in creative writing and theater from Georgia State University. His current full-time employer is a large electric utility, where he works in the corporate communication department. Outside of his day-to-day job, he gives walking tours of the Midtown and SoNo districts and Westview Cemetery of Atlanta for the Atlanta Preservation Center. He also serves as the president of the APC's auxiliary group, CIRCA, which offers its members private tours of some of metropolitan Atlanta's most interesting historical structures. Clemmons has written two books – Rich’s: A Southern Institution and Atlanta’s Historic Westview Cemetery – and co-authored a screenplay. He also is responsible for getting Westview Cemetery listed in the National Register of Historic Places – a three-year ordeal that involved researching, writing, presenting and navigating governmental agencies and policies. In 2020, Clemmons - along with three others - was nominated for an Emmy Award for producing Georgia Public Television's Rich's Remembered.
Tom Asher is currently president of The Rich Foundation, Inc., a private Atlanta foundation established in 1943 by Rich’s department store that supports a wide range of community activities with a focus on education and social justice. After 48 years in the investment industry, Tom led a design team at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business that created a permanent 35-yard timeline of the history of Wall Street from 1789 to the present. Tom is married to Spring Asher, an award-winning TV producer and author. They have three children, and eight grandchildren.
The Atlanta Jewish History Talks (Winter 2021) is sponsored through a generous grant from Marilyn Ginsberg Eckstein.
Community Partner Southern Jewish Historical Society