Kappa Alpha Order • Epsilon Chapter • Emory University • Summer 2019

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Epsilon Chapter Restored at EmoryOn Friday, April 26, Epsilon active brothers and alumni gathered at Ansley Golf Club for the rechartering ceremony of Epsilon of Kap-pa Alpha Order. Emory administrators present included Director of Greek Life Marlon Gibson, Assistant Director of Greek Life Joshua Gamse, and Senior Director of Development Jessi Arnidis. Kappa Alpha Order leaders in attendance included Knight Commander Darren S. Kay, Councilor King V. Aiken Jr., 37th Knight Commander Ben W. Satcher Jr., and Atlanta KA Alumni President Ed Sul-livan. Kappa Alpha Order staff included Anthony M. Graziani, Evan M. Hanna, Carlton Schumpert, Evan L. Stack, George “Dallas” Weaver, and Executive Director Larry Stanton Wiese. Also in attendance was Dawn Watkins Wiese of PLAID LLC whose firm did a masterful job of working with Emory University over the past few years to strengthen Greek life. Special thanks to Epsilon brothers and Ansley Golf Club members James David Carico ’87 and Steven B. Drucker ’89.

Left to right: Knight Commander Darren Kay with Number 1 Matthew Cope. Left to right: Executive Director Larry Stanton Wiese, Fred Neely ’66, Director of Greek Life Marlon Gibson, Dawn Watkins Wiese of PLAID LLC, Andrew West ’93, and Sonny Deriso ’68.

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Seriously True Southern Gentleman ($10,000 - $20,000) Lurner O. Benton III ’60 True Southern Gentleman ($1,200 - $9,999) James L. Ferman Jr. ’65 James J. Thomasson ’56 Andrew C. West ’93 Superlative Southern Gentleman ($750 - $1,199) Serious Southern Gentleman ($500 - $749) Robert S. Harkey ’63 Corey Neal ’05

Harry L. Shufflebarger ’63 Charles K Williamson ’76 Sidney H. Yarbrough III, M.D. ’59 Southern Gentleman ($250 - $499) Timothy K. Adams ’60 Walter H. Beckham III ’70 Russell W. Boozer ’75 D. Melson Butler ’50 Anthony M. Everett ’85 J. Madden Hatcher Jr. ’60 James W. Jones ’76 Richard P. Morthland ’63 Charles H. Schwaner ’81 James M. Tallman ’68 John C. Toole ’65

Gentleman ($100 - $249) William F. Allen III ’77 Donald E. Brunson ’68 Thomas B. Buck ’59 Jack C. Bulloch ’59 A. Stuart Campbell ’75 Langdon Cheves ’62 William D. Crosby Jr. ’72 Eric Paul Edwardson ’92 J. Paul Ferguson ’59 John H. Goff Jr. ’55 Richard E. Hodges ’50 Laudis H. Rick Lanford ’80 J. Harry Lange Jr. ’63 Michael J. Maloney ’77 Herbert A. McKoy ’63 William D. Morrison ’44 Thomas S. Murphy ’88

Robert L. O’Kelley Jr. ’65 Paul R. Pizzo ’63 Kevin P. Platt ’87 Mark C. Post ’89 Tomas P. Reilly ’15 Carroll H. Roe Jr. ’68 H. Hamilton Smith ’57 William C. Stiefel ’60 Thomas E. Toombs ’90 Joseph B. Williams ’64 Rebel (Up to $99) Preston T. Davis ’57 Jacob J. Durst ’17 Anthony J. Pizzo ’68 Robert C. Pool ’64 Henry C. White ’78

The 2018 Epsilon of Emory Campaign Donor List$22,320 pledged as of June 12, 2019

Kappa Alpha Order Building

Fund Donor List $725 Raised

Ralph W. Howard ’64 J. Harry Lange ’63 Mark C. Post ’89

Philip T. Schley ’53 James M. Tallman, M.D. ’68

Timothy K. Adams ’57 Frederick B. Arnold ’73 Thomas A. Barrow Jr. ’45 Travis W. Blalock, M.D. ’00 A. Stuart Campbell ’72 James D. Carico ’84 L. Adolph Casal, M.D. ’84 Matthew Cope ’19 Carl J. Davis Jr. ’48 Walter M. Deriso ’Jr. ’65 W. Gus Elliott ’51 James P. Ferguson ’56 Joseph H. Gaston IV, M.D. ’49 James M. Hatcher Jr. ’56 Norman G. Houston III ’63 Ralph W. Howard Jr. ’62 Philipp Humann ’19 Matthew J. Jewell ’84

Eli B. Kalika, M.D. ’09 John H. Lange Jr. ’62 Charlie Lederberg ’19 George R. Lee III, M.D. ’89 J. Gordon McGill ’68 T. Sean Murphy ’85 Corey N. Neal ’02 Kevin P. Platt ’85 H. Glenn Russell ’71 John W. Stephenson ’67 James M. Tallman, M.D. ’68 James J. Thomasson Jr. ’53 Connor Cione USMC ’19 Walter W. Walker Jr. ’66 C. Wilbur Warner Jr. ’59 Andrew C. West USMCR ’90 Joseph B. Williams ’61 Charles H. Yates Jr. ’47

Kappa Alpha Order Educational Fund Donor List $23,308 Raised

Scott C. Bridgford ’03 Malcolm R. Bruni ’92

Quinn A. Henderson ’93 J. Eric Lockridge ’95 Eric A. Main ’93

John J. McCrosson ’90 Jonathan D. Swartz ’94 Thomas E. Toombs ’90

Mark S. Watson ’93 Andrew C. West ’93

Ida Shingles Assistance Fund Donor List $2,300 Raised

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Update from the ChapterThe chapter at Emory University showed great strides after growing by 20 new pledges during the spring semester. With 44 members (five graduating seniors), the chapter is looking forward to returning to their historic house on 14 Eagle Row just in time for the 150th anniversary of KA’s founding at Emory in 1869. We would like to communicate our full gratitude to alumni for their continual support and for being crucial in our early return to the row. Alumni played a vital role in spring recruitment by sponsoring two rush events: the Hawks-Celtics game and a Top Golf event. We received very positive reviews from new members and many were drawn by the exten-sive alumni network.

Walter M. “Sonny” Deriso Jr. ’68 was inducted into the Hardeman Province Court of Honor at the Idle Hour Country Club on Saturday, April 27, 2019. He was accompanied by his wife of 50 years, the former Judy Holman of Albany, Georgia. He was sponsored by Frederick L. Neely Jr. ’66 and seconded by Andrew C. West ’90. Sonny is a graduate of Emory College and Emory Law School. While at Emory College, he was elected to be the first pres-ident of the Emory Student Government Association. Upon graduation in 1968, he received the Marion Luther Brittain Service Award. His accomplishments to the state of Georgia are extensive as is his service to Emory University. He is current-ly an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of Emory University, where he has served as a trustee since 2002. He previ-ously served as a chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for Ethics at Emory. He was the chairman of Campaign Emory from 2005-2012, which was successful in raising $1.697 billion, the largest capital campaign at that time in Georgia’s history. In 2013, he received the Emory Medal. In

2017, he was recognized by Emory Law School in its centennial celebration as one of the Emory Law 100. Sonny is currently serving as the chairman and a director of Atlantic Capital Bancshares Inc. and Atlan-

tic Capital Bank in Atlanta. We greatly ap-preciate Sonny’s unwavering commitment to Epsilon, Emory, and the surrounding community.

Sonny Deriso ’68 Inducted into Hardeman Province Court of Honor

Standing left to right: Andrew West ’90, David Carico ’87, and Sonny Deriso ’68. Sitting left to right: Tim Adams ’60, James Thomasson ’56, and Fred Neely ’66.

Spring 2019 induction ceremony at Harland Cinema in the Alumni Memorial University Center.

Rush function at Top Golf.

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Officers of Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Alpha Order at Emory University gathered with 360 KAs from Alabama, East Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Mis-sissippi, and South Carolina on Febru-ary 15-16 at Kennesaw State Univer-sity in Marietta for Province Council. Province Council is an annual day and a half educational event with under-graduate officers, KA National Office staff, and alumni to exchange ideas and discuss best practices. At the end of the event, Epsilon was recognized with a scholastic achievement award for holding a GPA of 3.401.

Epsilon of Kappa Alpha Order Receives Scholastic Achievement Award at Province Council

Brother of the Month: James Jordano ’19The brother of the month is our graduating senior James Jordano ’19 from Melbourne, Fla. He is graduating as a biology major with a perfect 4.0 GPA. James plans to go to medical school in the fall. He is the student programming council co-band party chairman and is in charge of orga-nizing concerts at Emory. He is also the co-editor-in-chief for the school’s satire magazine, The Emory Spoke. In addition to his on-campus responsibilities, he works part time at Bartaco, does research, and is working on his thesis. In his free time he enjoys working out, watching sitcoms, reading, and spends his summers working at the Brevard Zoo.

Conner Cione ’19 was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps following Commence-ment on Monday, May 13, at the Houston Mill House. 2d Lt. Cione served as the Number I during 2018 and will next report to The Basic School (TBS) for six months of training in Quantico, Virginia.

Left to right: Advisor Andrew West ’93, Number VI Tariq Khan ’21, Number V Nikita Snejnevski ’21, Number VII Charlie Lederberg ’20, Number III Sandeep Reddy ’20, Number IX Brian Fleischer ’21, Number VIII John Kang ’21, Number II Aaron Mamaril ’21, and Number I Matthew Cope ’21. Not pictured: Number V Jaden Lessnick ’20.

Conner Cione ’19 Commissioned as Second Lieutenant in USMC

Left to right: 1st Sgt. Andrew C. West, USMCR ’93C and 2d Lt. Conner Cione, USMC ’19C.

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2019 KA Alumni Chapter Convivium Ansley Golf Club, February 2 Many thanks to all of you who were able to join us for the Atlanta KA Alumni Chapter’s 2019 Convivium. We had 16 chapters from all across the country represented this year!

A special word of thanks to King Aiken (Kappa), a member of Kappa Alpha’s Executive Council, for an update on the State of the Or-der, and to Hunter Hopkins (Gamma) and Andrew West ’90, both of whom serve as alumnus adviser to their respective chapters, for updates on the Gamma chapter at UGA and Epsilon at Emory University.

If you were unable to attend this year, we hope to see you next year!

Matthew Cole ’20 and his girlfriend, Zoe Gaupp. Left to right: Mark McDonald ’79, Dr. James M. Tallman ’68, and Ray Taylor.

Left to right: Steve Lovoy, Alabama ‘91, Ed Sullivan, Florida ’77, and Steve B. Drucker ’89.

Lurner “L.O.” Benton III ’60

Lurner “L.O.” Benton III ’60 passed away peacefully on Friday, March 1 surrounded by his family. He was 76 years of age.

Brother Benton was born on June 5, 1942, as the third child to Lurner Oliver Benton Jr. and Margaret Tate Benton. He attend-ed public schools in Monticello, Georgia, before receiving his Bachelor of Business Ad-ministration from Emory in 1965. Emory is also where he met the love of his life, Nancy.

On October 9, 1965, L.O. and Nancy mar-ried. They moved back to Monticello where L.O. worked at the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Eatonton where his father was pres-ident. Mr. Benton Jr. became ill and L.O. was faced with the challenge of running a significant financial institution at the early age of 32. To say that he met the chal-lenge would be an understatement. Perceiving that size would be important with developments in the banking industry, L.O. took actions to combine Farmers and Merchants Bank with The Farmers Bank of Greene County where his family

had an interest. He caused the creation of a bank holding company, Putnam-Greene Financial Corporation, and folded the two banks into one under that umbrella. He thereby took advantages of the synergies that resulted from the combina-

tion. He later added two additional banks: the Pembroke State Bank, which he renamed First Bank of Coastal Georgia, and The Citizens Bank of Cochran. This combina-tion created a very successful financial group that prospered even when other community banks were struggling and failing. At the same time L.O. was making his mark in the banking industry, he also was running a petroleum service company, Benton Oil Company, and was farming. As successful as he was in his banking endeavors, he was most happy on a tractor, tending to his cows

and Tennessee walking horses, or spending time with Nancy.

L.O. was a proud Epsilon brother and a loyal friend. He will be missed by a great multitude.

Kappa Alpha OrderEmory University (713) PO Box 2187 Columbus, GA 31902-2187

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Just like Emory, Epsilon KA brothers are from all over the place, representing 21 U.S. states (93%) and three foreign countries (7%): England, Honduras, and India. Of the 42 brothers from the U.S., 19 are from the South (45%), 12 are from the Northeast (29%), six are from the Midwest (14%), and five are from the West (12%).

Save the Date: Epsilon of Kappa Alpha Order 150th Anniversary Celebration

n Friday, September 20 Golf tournament and barbecue at the Mansion (14 Eagle Row). n Saturday, September 21 Campus tour, open house, and banquet. More details and registration information to follow.

To volunteer to help with planning and preparations, please contact Andrew C. West ’93 at andrewchildswest@gmail.com or (404) 374-2294.

Where Are KAs from?