Highly-respected veteran Georgia newspaperman Elliott E. Brack, 90, of Norcross died May 15 peacefully from natural causes at his home. A funeral is planned for 2 p.m. May 30 at Christ Church Episcopal in Norcross.
Brack, an editor, publisher and newspaper executive for more than six decades, received scores of state and national news awards, including winning best weekly editorial page in the country for two successive years in the late 1960s.
Brack also authored an 850-page book of the history of Gwinnett County, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, which was published in 2008. The book won the Award of Excellence for documenting Georgia history from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board in 2010. He also authored 366 Facts about Gwinnett, printed in 2018 for the county’s bicentennial.
Born in rural Wilkinson County in 1935, Brack grew up in Macon, and graduated from Lanier Boys High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in 1957. While at Mercer, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, was business manager of the student newspaper, The Cluster, and for four years, was manager of the Mercer basketball team. He was also elected president of the “M” Club.
Brack’s first job in newspapers was as a newspaper carrier for nine years with the Macon News, and later The Telegraph. While in high school, he began reporting sports activities for the Macon papers, and continued while in college.
He was commissioned a U.S. Army officer through the ROTC program in college, and previously had been a member of the 48th Infantry Division headquarters of the Georgia National Guard, and was for two years a member of the Army Reserve. He served on active duty in the Army for three and a half years in Germany as a commissary and Class VI officer. After military service, he obtained his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa.
Brack had careers at several levels of newspapering. After being a reporter for the Macon Telegraph before entering the Army, he became publisher in 1962 of the Wayne County Press in Jesup, Ga., winning state and national newspaper awards. He moved to Gwinnett County in 1974 and was vice president and general manager of the Gwinnett Daily News, and later served for one year in a similar position with the Marietta Daily Journal. He joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1988 as the associate publisher of its daily Gwinnett EXTRA, retiring in 2001.
He was a visiting assistant professor of journalism at the Henry W. Grady School of the University of Georgia in 1973-74, teaching beginning reporting and initiating its newspaper management program. He continued teaching newspaper management at the Grady school for eight more years.
In 1979, he became chairman and president of The Red and Black Publishing Company, Inc., when that student newspaper became independent of the University. He served in that position for 33 years while the newspaper thrived.
Community leader
After his retirement, Brack continued to be involved in community life in Gwinnett by publishing the online GwinnettForum.com from 2001 until the present.
Altogether in the weekly and daily publications and on the internet, Mr. Brack wrote more than 10,000 columns (usually 500 words), commenting on anything from human interest stories, to dirt roads, politics and national topics.
Brack was a member of the Jesup Rotary Club, where he served as president, and later a member of the Gwinnett Rotary Club. He had more than 63 years with perfect attendance.
His honors followed his interests. Besides many state and national newspaper awards, he was named a Public Service award winner in 1988 by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, the Chamber named him its Citizen of the Year. He also served as president of the Georgia Press Association in 1987-88. He was a member of its Golden Club. For 15 years he represented the Southern Newspaper Publisher’s Association on the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Brack was the founding chairman and served for eight years as chairman for Leadership Gwinnett. He later also founded Senior Leadership Gwinnett.
He was a member of the vestry of three different Episcopal churches, and was a communicant since 1979 of Christ Church in Norcross, where he was a lector, greeter and finance committee member. He represented his church as a delegate to the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Council for many years.
Among his other civic activities, he was a member of the Metro Atlanta Board of Directors of the Salvation Army for 20 years. In 2015, he was awarded the Salvation Army’s “Other” Award, for distinguished service. Only about 50 Georgians have received this award. He chaired the drive to raise $4.3 million for the Salvation Army in Gwinnett for its new facilities on Sugarloaf Parkway.
He was active in many civic affairs. He was chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross; served for eight years as a trustee of the Atlanta Historical Center; served on the Gwinnett County Draft Board; and on the advisory board of the Neighborhood Cooperative Ministry. He was proud to be president of the Eastern Continental Divide Association. He was a member of the Gridiron Secret Society at the University of Georgia. He was a regular attender of the PDC Club of Norcross on Wednesday mornings.
Among his achievements was raising funds for charitable institutions. He chaired the United Way in Gwinnett’s campaign in 1989, raising more money than ever before. He also chaired the campaign to raise $4.3 million for the Robert Fowler YMCA in Peachtree Corners. He led efforts for funding a $2 million building at the University of Georgia for The Red and Black newspaper.
He is survived by his wife, the former Barbara London, originally from Arkansas, whom he met while in high school in Macon; three children, Andrew C. Brack of Charleston, S.C.; Elizabeth C. Brack Fehrs of Durham, N.C.; and the late Catherine C. Brack of Charleston, S.C.; and two granddaughters, Avery L. Brack and Ellen H. Brack, both of Charleston.
A funeral will be held 2 p.m. May 30 at Christ Church Episcopal, 400 Holcomb Bridge Road, Norcross, Ga. Burial will be 2 p.m. May 31 at Walnut Creek Baptist Church near Allentown, Ga., about a mile from where he was born. in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Salvation Army of Gwinnett County.
