William “Bill” Legg
William E. “Bill” Martin Legg passed away Saturday, July 9, 2022 at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was born at Ft. McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia on June 9, 1941.
He was preceded in death by his parents, William Caswell Martin Jr and Carolyn Lanelle Martin Legg; and adoptive father, Paul E. Legg.
He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Elizabeth (Betty) Kilpatrick Legg; daughters, Shelbie Chandelle Legg and Laura Danielle Martin Legg; son, Michael Edward Spruell; sister, Nancy Legg Epperson; granddaughters, Valentina and Annabelle Barybov; as well as nieces, Charlene Arrillaga, Pauline Arrillaga, Kerri Kilpatrick La Masson and Tara Kilpatrick Love; and nephews, Shane, Richard, Raymond, Ryan, Ben, Jared and Ethan Kilpatrick.
As a youth, Bill was active in the Boy Scouts and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He also spent time as a camp counselor at the YMCA. He loved music and learned to play the tuba and string bass. At 14, he became a member of the American Federation of Musicians. At 16, he won the position of tubist for the Atlanta Symphony, which made him the youngest member in the United States of a major symphony orchestra at that time. He played with the Atlanta symphony until his graduation from high school. He also played various engagements with Les Brown, Lawrence Welk, Elvis Presley, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, among others.
He attended Florida State University on a full musical scholarship and played four years with the Marching Chiefs. Upon graduation, he joined the USAF as a 2nd Lt. in pilot training. His unit was sent to Vietnam where he flew 120 combat missions out of Thailand. He left the USAF as a Captain in 1968. He returned to FSU and completed his Master’s degree in Economics in 1969, did graduate work in Yugoslavia for two years and completed his Ph.D. in Economics in 1976. Between 1971-1976 he taught at Rollins College and Stetson University.
At the same time, he also started MarKon Research Associates specializing in strategic planning and financial analysis for major clients in banking and real estate. In 1977, he became a professor at Georgia State University teaching economics and real estate/financial/marketability analysis. He founded the Research Center for Real Estate and Land Economics financed by every major bank and real estate developer in the metro Atlanta area plus Augusta, Macon and Savannah. Dr. Legg developed a system to analyze the financial performance of existing and proposed banks. This system was used extensively by the
Federal Reserve, the FDIC and State of Georgia Department of Banking.
In 1991, he sold MarKon and moved to the Chattanooga area, where he served as the Chief Economist for Blue Cross and directed the Health Economics Research Department, the Actuarial Department, the Product Development Group and the Market Research Group. He left Blue Cross in 1998 and returned to real estate development in Tennessee and Georgia until 2008. He never gave up teaching economics and taught adjunct at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga State Community College, Cleveland State Community College and Roane State Community College. He loved young people and taught for over 50 years. He called his students his little angels, and would walk into the room every morning shouting “Good morning you lucky people!” He maintained his love of music and travel throughout his life, and passed it on to both of his daughters. He also was a gifted nature photographer and his work was carried by two Atlanta galleries.
Bill was a risk taker, an achiever, a loving husband and father who never entered an activity without giving it 110 percent. Bill was an active member of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church and loved his Savior Jesus Christ, his family and community. He wishes his passing to be celebratory and believed he would see all again in the heavenly kingdom.
The funeral will be held at the historic Chapel Hill church, located at 5149 East Valley Road, at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 16 with a graveside service following at Chapel Hill cemetery. Military honors will be provided by Sequatchie Valley Honor Guard.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his name be given to Disabled American Veter-ans, Tunnels2towers or Hunter7. All of these foundations provide assistance to disabled veterans or veterans who have sustained toxic exposures in the line of duty.
An online guestbook is at www.ewtonfuneralhome.com.
Ewton Funeral Home and Cremation Center of Dunlap was in charge of arrangements.
