‘Georgia giant’ Johnny Isakson dies at 76
Businessman and former U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson died Saturday night at the age of 76.
His death was confirmed Sunday by the Isakson family. The former senator announced in 2015 he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. He cited the disease’s advance when he announced his retirement from the senate in 2019.
Isakson held the distinction of being the only Georgian ever to have been elected to the state House, state Senate, U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and in 2016 he also became the first Georgia Republican ever to be elected to a third term in the U.S. Senate.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle took to social media Sunday morning to pay tribute to Isakson.
“Georgia has lost a giant, one of its greatest statesman, and a servant leader dedicated to making his state and country better than he found it,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement shared on social media Sunday. “As a businessman and gifted retail politician, Johnny paved the way for the modern Republican Party in Georgia, but he never let partisan politics get in the way of doing what was right.”
“U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson served the whole of Georgia with attention and fairness,” Democrat and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams wrote on Twitter. “With every interaction, my respect for him grew and never wavered. Though we held different ideologies, I was honored to call him friend.”
“Senator Johnny Isakson’s passing marks the end of an era,” Republican and former Congressman Newt Gingrich tweeted. “Johnny was a founder of the modern Georgia GOP. His years of patient, steady work with an always positive attitude, a smile for everyone, and a balanced approach to life, politics, and government made Georgia a better place.”
“Our politics were different but our goals were the same,” state Rep. Erick Allen, D-Smyrna, wrote. “To serve with humility, respect, and purpose. Sen. Isakson was a presence in the lives of many public servants and will be greatly missed. RIP Senator, we are better because you were.”
“I am fortunate as so many here in Cobb to have had meaningful interaction with Senator Isakson,” Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said in a statement. “I appreciate his insight, his candor and encouragement of me as a community advocate and later, as a district commissioner. Cobb is fortunate to have a national statesman as one of our own.”
According to his Senate biography, Isakson was born in Atlanta on Dec. 28, 1944, and
graduated from the University of Georgia in 1966 before serving in the Georgia Air National Guard until 1972.
Isakson’s biography states he opened the first Cobb County office of his small, familyowned real estate business, Northside Realty, in 1967 and spent 20 years as president of the firm, growing it into one of
the largest independent real estate brokerage companies in the Southeast and nationwide.
He was elected a member of the Georgia General Assembly in 1976 and served there until 1990 when he unsuccessfully campaigned for election as governor.
From 1993 to 1996, he was a member of the Georgia Senate, then he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and became chair of the Georgia Board of Education.
Isakson was elected in 1999 to the U.S. House for the first of three terms.
In 2004, he was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate and he won reelection in 2010 and 2016. In the latter race he won 54% of the vote and in early 2018 he told a crowd gathered at an Atlanta Press Club event that he planned to run for re-election in 2022.
His declining health would change those plans, however.
“After much prayer and consultation with my family and my doctors, I have made the very tough decision to leave the U.S. Senate at the end of this year,” Isakson stated when announcing his retirement in August of 2019. “I am leaving a job I love because my health challenges are taking their toll on me, my family and my staff.”