Bob Shaw was a force in Georgia’s Republican Party when state conventions were small enough to be held in a phone booth, his friends say.
As Georgia’s political landscape changed and Republicans ascended, Shaw became a player in national politics, convincing Paul Coverdell, Newt Gingrich and Johnny Isakson to run for public office. He also was elected chairman of the state Republican party twice and the vice chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“He was beloved by everybody,” said Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, whom Shaw urged to run for state chairman. “I never heard anyone, Republican or Democrat, say a bad thing about Bob Shaw. He was the quintessential Southern gentleman.”
Robert Jennings Shaw, 94, died Feb. 27 of pneumonia. Born in tiny Bronwood in south Georgia, he was the only son of Robert Edwards Shaw and Vesta Jennings Shaw, who also had three daughters. In the mid-1930s, the family moved from Terrell County to Marietta, where Shaw’s father ran a service station.
After graduating from Marietta High School in 1946, Bob joined the Georgia Air National Guard. He also enrolled at Georgia Tech, where he played for the baseball team. He later graduated from the the Atlanta Division of the University of Georgia, which is now Georgia State University.
Politics was only one of Shaw’s interests. As a child, he and his parents attended gospel music shows, and he fell in love with music and singing. In 1949, he became the lead singer in the Homeland Harmony Quartet, a popular Southern gospel group. He recalled traveling thousands of miles in a station wagon to perform. Later, he sang with the Harmoneers and the Sunshine Boys and was twice inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and also into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.
He got engaged to Elaine Smith Oct. 1, 1950. A few weeks later, at the start of the Korean War, he was called to service and sent to Misawa, Japan, where he worked as an administrator in a military hospital. Elaine and he were married on Christmas Day in 1950 and remained married almost 66 years, until her death in December.
After returning from Japan in 1952, Shaw joined the Revelaires Quartet, another gospel group. During a performance on the same bill as the Jordanaires — who became the backup singers for Elvis Presley — they asked Shaw to join their band. He declined and left the Revelaires in 1955 to spend more time with his family.
The next year, he became the minister of music at First Baptist Chattahoochee, a position he held for 58 years. And he started building his successful insurance agency and consultant business.
“In the 1950s, he got involved with Eisenhower,” said Rusty Paul. “He became a key figure in the modern Republican Party in Georgia, and he adapted to every ebb and flow. He built relationships with everybody.”
Shaw’s grandson Cameron Fash grew closer to his grandfather after the early death of his own father. He remembered going to Destin, Florida, and Jekyll Island, Georgia, with his grandparents. “He loved going to the beach,” Fash said. “The salt air would open him up and he’d sing like he was 20 again. He was always singing.”
Shaw’s reputation, however, was tarnished late in life in connection with his chairmanship of the Development Authority of Fulton County. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation uncovered loose financial controls at the agency and abuse of per diems paid to some board members. For years, Shaw and other top officers were paid multiple per diems per day. Shaw collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in per diems for his board service. He left the board.
Fash said his grandfather and he talked extensively about the situation. “At no point did he suspect he was doing anything inappropriate,” said Fash. “He had suffered a stroke. He regretted he wasn’t in a position to fight back against the accusations. He always believed he had done nothing wrong.”
Bob Shaw is survived by his sister, Carol Shaw, three of his four daughters, Elena Fash, Susan Felderman, Bobbie Bourne, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held March 22 at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Chattahoochee, 1950 Bolton Road NW, Atlanta.
