Thomas W. Connally

Thomas W. Connally, with the Connally Realty Company, served as 1926-1927 BOMA Atlanta President.

According to an article in the December 31, 1927, morning issue of The Atlanta Constitution, Thomas died unexpectedly of phenomena on December 24, 1927, during his term as president. The article says he was a “prominent figure in Atlanta’s business, civic, and social life, and scion of a noted Georgia family.” Also, as “secretary and treasurer and attorney of the real estate company which bears his name, Mr. Connally was one of the leading figures in realty circles of the city, but it was in the activities of Chi Phi fraternity, with which he became affiliated on September 28, 1898, at Emory university, that his interest was chiefly centered.”

Chi Phi is widely considered the oldest American men’s social fraternity, as it was formed from the merger of three separate organizations, with the oldest established in December 24, 1824, at Princeton University. The organization’s founding principles are truth, honor, and personal integrity. According to an article in the July 4, 1926, issue of The Atlanta Journal, Thomas was also “one of the leading factors in the organization of the Emory University Alumni association.”

An article in the Sunday morning, January 1, 1928, issue of The Atlanta Journal, says of Thomas, “So filled was his life with love for his fellow man that he made friends wherever he went; friends who find themselves saddened by the passing of so lovable a character.”

The January 1, 1928, article refers to Thomas as an “able business man” and “a business man of exceptional qualifications and ability, he went far in that field and at his death was secretary and treasurer and attorney for the Connally Realty company which numbers among its holdings the Connally building at Whitehall and Alabama streets.”

Of his personal character, the January 1, 1928, article says, “He never neglected a duty, and there were many. Through life he went with a cheery smile and twinkling eyes; a jest at times upon his lips. But those who knew him best and deepest, discerned a character of solid rock and will to do and serve which was an inspiration to those about him.”