Businessman, singer, veteran and longtime Republican mover-and-shaker Bob Shaw, age 95, died recently. Born in Bronwood, Georgia, his family moved to Marietta, and he later attended and played baseball at Georgia Tech and graduated from the University of Georgia Atlanta campus.
Bob had been singing publicly since childhood and, in 1948, he became the lead singer and emcee of one of the most popular Southern gospel groups in the nation, The Homeland Harmony Quartet. He would later help organize the Revelaires quartet, join The Harmoneers and The Sunshine Boys quartets, and was hired as the Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Chattahoochee, where he led the music for 58 years. He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2002 and 2005.
In 1948, Bob joined The Air National Guard at Dobbins Air Base and was called into active duty with the 116th Fighter Bomber Wing of Air Force in 1950.
Recruited into politics in 1960, Bob became a three-term chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and Vice Chairman of the Republican National Committee. His lifelong activism helped establish a two-party system in Georgia, and his affable personality earned him the title of “Godfather of the Georgia Republican Party.”
A successful, self-employed small business consultant, Shaw was appointed to the Fulton County Development Authority where he would serve as chairman for nearly 20 years.
Matt Towery, co-founder and chairman of InsiderAdvantage and James magazine, remembers his friend as “a stalwart of the GOP in Georgia long before the party reached majority status. He was eloquent in his speech and pitch perfect in his singing.”
