William B. Schwartz Jr.

(1924-2010)

Born in 1924, Schwartz graduated from Druid Hills High School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He entered naval officer candidate school in Newport, Rhode Island, and left the military in 1945, with the rank of lieutenant. At a local dance, he met Sonia Weinberg, and they were later married at The Temple in December 1945.

He held a distinguished career as vice president of National Service Industries and president of Weine Investment, as well as service on numerous boards for Emory University, the Florence Crittenton Home, the Botanical Gardens, the Atlanta Chapter of the Red Cross, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. In the 1960s, the City of Atlanta voted to build a rapid transit system, and Schwartz became MARTA's Vice Chairman. Schwartz was active within the Atlanta Jewish community, and served as president of The Temple when it was bombed in 1958.

He held the position of president of the Atlanta chapter of the American Jewish Committee and served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Schwartz joined Dorothy and Hamilton Jordan in founding Camp Sunshine, which provides programs for children with cancer. Schwartz played a key role in the election of Jimmy Carter, and helped form the Committee for Jimmy Carter with Anne Cox Chambers, Andrew Young, and Phillip Henry Alston Jr.

After the election, Schwartz served as ambassador to the Bahamas from 1977 to 1981. He and his wife, Sonia, had three sons, William B. Schwartz III, Arthur Jay Schwartz and Robert C. Schwartz. With his brother-in-law Elliott Goldstein, they founded the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education, named after their parents-in-law, Lillian and A.J. Weinberg, which educates high school students on the dangers of prejudice and discrimination.