George W. Bryan (April 5, 1946 – January 6, 2023) was an American businessman, former Chief Executive Officer of Sara Lee Foods, Senior VP of

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrecht ...

, and founder of

Old Waverly Golf Club Old Waverly Golf Club, located in West Point, Mississippi, is an 18-hole championship golf course founded by the George Bryan family and 29 other founders in 1988. Designed by U.S. Open Champion Jerry Pate and Bob Cupp, Old Waverly has hosted man ...

Biography

George Bryan was born in

West Point, Mississippi West Point is a city in Clay County, Mississippi, United States, in the Golden Triangle region of the state. The population was 11,307 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County and the principal city of the West Point Micropolitan ...

in 1946. He graduated from West Point High School, where he then attended

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

in nearby Starkville. Bryan completed his undergraduate degree in 1968 with a degree in Business Administration. He passed away on the morning of January 6, 2023 of natural causes.

Bryan Foods

After graduation Bryan began working for

Bryan Foods Bryan Foods is an American meat company founded in 1936 by John H. Bryan, Sr and W.B. Bryan in West Point, Mississippi. Information The company was acquired in 1968 by Sara Lee Corporation, now Hillshire Brands which was later acquired by Tyson ...

, his family's meat products manufacturing business based in West Point. Shortly after he began working, Bryan Foods was acquired by

. After working in cost accounting, he became production manager and vice president of sales before being named president of Bryan Foods in 1974.

Sara Lee Corporation

Bryan further advanced to the role of Senior Vice President of Sara Lee Corporation in 1983 and moved to the company's meat group offices in West Tennessee. Under Bryan's guidance Sara Lee's meat division produced more than $3.5 billion in annual sales. He continued working until retirement as Senior Vice President of

and CEO of Sara Lee Foods.

Old Waverly Golf Club

In 1988, George, his wife Marcia, and 29 founding members opened

. The course was designed by Jerry Pate and Bob Cupp. Old Waverly was well received throughout the country, being named a Top New Course in the United States by

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

. Old Waverly continued to garner national acclaim until Bryan sought to host a major tournament. Old Waverly hosted the

1999 U.S. Women's Open The 1999 U.S. Women's Open was the 54th U.S. Women's Open, held June 3–6 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi, northwest of Columbus. In her twentieth attempt, Juli Inkster won the first of her two U.S. Women's Open titles, fiv ...

to nearly 130,000 attendees. The attendance is still the second highest in the history of the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

. The tournament is considered the most prestigious sporting event hosted in the state of Mississippi. Old Waverly has regularly been named the top golf course in Mississippi and a Top 100 course in the United States by

Golfweek ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Florida ...

, and other publications.

Other endeavors

Bryan has served in various advisory roles on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations, including: *

Regions Financial Corporation Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsidia ...

American Meat Institute The American Meat Institute (AMI) was the oldest and largest trade association representing the U.S. meat and poultry industry. In 2015, it was merged into the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). Overview Founded in 1906 in Chicago as the Amer ...

* Union Planters National Bank,

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

* Danek Group,

Development Foundation * Buckeye Technologies, Inc.,

In addition, Bryan has developed residential and commercial real estate in Mississippi, Tennessee and Utah.

Awards and recognition

* Outstanding Mississippian, Gov. Cliff Finch (1979) * College of Business and Industry Alumni Fellow,

(1992) *

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

Hall of Fame (1992) * Mississippi Sports Person of the Year, ''

The Clarion-Ledger ''The Clarion Ledger'' is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating d ...

'' (1999) * National Alumnus of the Year,

(2000) *

Citizen of the Year (2000) * Spirit of 1776 Award,

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

(2013) * Rube Award, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (2015) * Distinguished Service Award, Mississippi Golf Association (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, George W. 1946 births Living people Businesspeople from Mississippi Mississippi State University alumni People from West Point, Mississippi