Bob Prillaman’s impact on Cobb County is indelible, the result of a life lived for others.
Bob Maurice Prillaman, called “a modern Merlin with a magic wand for leadership” when he was named the MDJ’s Cobb County Citizen of the Year in 2001, passed away Easter Sunday at the age of 90.
Prillaman was a successful businessman and retired executive at Caraustar Industries, but it was his service through philanthropy and activism that secured his legacy as one of Cobb’s finest. Among his many community service roles, he was instrumental in the growth of Wellstar Health System throughout Cobb and Georgia and the partnership between Wellstar and Kennesaw State University.
His commitment to improving Georgia’s health care system continued until the end of his life: He wrote about the closure of Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center in a November MDJ guest column, encouraging continued collaboration among “all our local hospitals, our government and our community members – to address healthcare issues for our people and ensure they can get the best care possible, when they need it.”
Tom Phillips joined the Wellstar Board of Trustees in 1997, when Prillaman served as chair. The two men formed a bond that Phillips said was akin to brotherhood.
“He was a person that inspired me more so than ever to become involved in the community, and in healthcare and at KSU,” Phillips said. “He was a giver, he never was a taker, he was always the first to recognize a need for his talents and his financial resources – he’d be the first to come to the plate and set an example.
“He was an amazing, amazing man, and we’d call each other brothers,” Phillips added.
Humble beginnings
Born on February 4, 1933, in Bassett, Virginia, Prillaman was the only son of Owen Prillaman, a railroad laborer, and Mildred Prillaman, a schoolteacher.
Prillaman…
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