REAL ESTATE FIGURE, FORMER TECH STAR EWELL POPE DIES

Real Estate Developer Ewell G. Pope dies at 57

By Tom Bennett

Ewell Pope, a former Georgia Tech star who became a major land developer in Atlanta and the Far East, died of a heart-related illness Tuesday at Castle Medical Center in Kaneohe, Hawaii. He was 57.

Mr. Pope had been living in Hawaii for about three years, according to George Goodwin of the Atlanta public relations firm of Manning, Selvage and Lee, Inc.

Mr. Pope underwent surgery five or six years ago to replace a heart valve, according to a friend, George H. Brodnax of Atlanta.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Mr. Pope once cut a wide swath across the Atlanta development landscape. Along with two former associates, Frank Carter of Atlanta and Trammell Crow of Dallas, Texas, Mr. Pope built Northlake and Cumberland Malls, Greenbriar Shopping Center, and various apartment complexes in the city.

"He was really the pioneer of the club-condominium apartment complex here," said Goodwin.

But it was a development thousands of miles away that established Mr. Pope as one of the biggest real estate wheeler-dealers in Atlanta history.

He had been introduced to the Far East as an Army officer in the Korean War. In 1969, while a partner of Crow, Pope & Carter, Inc. of Atlanta, he successfully bid $21.6 million for a 48,000 square-foot property on the "Golden Mile" shopping strip of Nathan Road on the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong officials said it was the largest land sale on the city's history, according to United Press International.

"In a special auction in a 1,500-seat auditorium at Hong Kong City Hall, Mr. Pope outbid 150 others, including several hotel chains. Later, his firm built the Sheraton Hong Kong and a shopping complex on the site.

"When the hotel opened in the spring of 1974, typically, he flew a planeload of Atlantans over for the opening," said Goodwin, who was among those making the trip.

Mr. Pope also developed a luxury hotel on Maui and an office complex in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In 1979, Mr. Pope and a new partner, A.J. Land, purchased one-third of Amelia Island, near Jacksonville, Fla. They later developed apartments on the property.

Mr. Pope was the chairman of a fund-raising drive to build a new athletic office complex at Georgia Tech, according to Brodnax.

"He had a built-in desire to excel," said Brodnax. "All of his life Ewell's been an overachiever."

Ewell Grady Pope was born November 3, 1927, in Douglas County. His father was a CPA. The family moved to Atlanta and he graduated from Brown Junior High and Boys High, where he was a star guard on the football team.

He enrolled at Tech, and played guard and lettered for four notable teams. The Yellow Jackets were 9-2 in 1946, 10-1 and defeated Kansas in the Orange Bowl in 1947, 7-3 in 1948 and 7-3 in 1949.

"At the time, Ewell was the only player who had started every play for four years," Brodnax said. "He weighed 160 pounds and was about 6 feet. He was scrappy and would outsmart his opponent."

After leaving Tech, Mr. Pope was briefly a high school coach and algebra teacher, considered studying law, and formed an insurance agency.

The Korean War intervened. While serving as a platoon leader Mr. Pope was wounded by a grenade explosion. An armour vest saved his life, but he received shrapnel in a shoulder and leg. he later was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

He recovered in Japan. It was there that Mr. Pope "decided on a real estate career while flat on his back in a hotel in Osaka," according to a biography of him.

He returned to Atlanta and joined Adams-Cates Co. He sold a million dollars worth of real estate for three years in a row, was named "Young man on the go" in Atlanta magazine, and was "realtor of the year."

In 1959, Mr. Pope formed a partnership with Carter, who later served as president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. They managed properties built in Atlanta by Dallas' Crow, and in 1967 formed a company with him. It developed and owned apartments, shopping centers, office buildings and warehouses. The company was dissolved in 1978.

Mr. Pope was a former Southeastern Conference football official. He was the field judge in the 1959 LSU-Ole Miss game in which Billy Cannon ran 89 yards for a touchdown and LSU won 7-3.

Mr. Pope was a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, Society of International Realtors, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, ANAK Honor Society at Tech, Lambda Alpha and the Capitol City and Cherokee Town Clubs.

Surviving are a son, Ewell G. Pope Jr. of Atlanta; a daughter, Mrs. Donna Pope Allman of Atlanta; his mother, Mrs. Clara J. Pope of morgantowm. W. Va.; a sister, Mrs. Mary Jane Hamilton of Morgantown; and three grandchildren.