A. Venable Lawson died Friday morning, May 14, 2004 in his home. He is survived by his daughters, Janet Lee Lawson of Ashville, NC, Mary Viv Lawson of Alamosa, CO; son, A. Venable Lawson, III of Decatur, GA; granddaughter, Julia Claire Guest of Ashville, NC and grandson, Jacob Clark Lawson of Decatur, GA. Burial service will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 West Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA 30308 at 3:30 p.m. Monday, May 17, 2004. Reception will be held in the church library and courtyard following the service. Lawson graduated from the University of Alabama in 1947 after serving in the United States Air Force for four years. He was employed in Denver by the Socony Mobil Oil Company. In 1948, he accepted the position of Teller with the First National Bank in Altavista, VA. In 1949, he married Julia Lee Clark. He received his master's degree from the Division of Librarianship at Emory University in 1950 and accepted a temporary job at the Atlanta Public Library from January to June. Following a summer tour of Europe, he accepted a position as assistant librarian with the Harvard University Library. In 1953, he returned to Atlanta has head of reference service at the Atlanta Public Library and was promoted in 1957 to Coordinator for Public Service. He served as part-time instructor at the Atlanta University and Emory library school. In 1960, he accepted the position of assistant professor on the facility of the library school at Florida State University. In 1965, became Director of the Emory University Division of Librarianship. He received his doctorate in Library Service from Columbia University in 1969 and was appointed as full professor at Emory. Lawson received the George Virgil Award from Columbia University in 1964, honorary life membership and Certificate of Honor from the Southeastern Library Association in 1988, the Nix-Jones Award for Distinguish Service to Georgia Libraries from the Georgia Library Association in 1989, and the Nick Davies Award from the Friends of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library in 1993. He was awarded the Emory Medal during Emory's 2002 Alumni Weekend in recognition of his outstanding service to the University, the Emory library, the library profession and the Druid Hills Community of Atlanta during his more than 50 year association with Emory. The Alumni Medal is Emory University's highest recognition after the the Honorary Degree. Lawson has served as a consultant to the School of Library and Information Studies of Atlanta University 1988-89, on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, the Episcopal Charities Foundation, Absalom Jones Student Center (Episcopal Student Center Clark Atlanta University), co-director and board member of Covenant Community (recovery community sponsored by All Saints Episocpal Church), Friends of Library USA, board member and chair for Houston Mill House of Emory University, board member and chair Cathedral of Saint Phillip Bookstore. Cremation Society of Georgia, 404-355-7627.
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 15, 2004