John W. “Jack” Rooker, chairman and former CEO of Rooker & Associates, a highly successful real estate development business he founded in Atlanta, died Saturday (Dec. 13) in Atlanta. He was 87.
Mr. Rooker was a decades-long supporter of the University of Georgia and the Terry College of Business — his name dons a building with longtime colleague and friend Dudley Moore Jr. in Terry’s Business Learning Community. A 1960 graduate of the Terry College, Mr. Rooker and his family count three generations and 10 family members graduating from UGA. The UGA Alumni Association named the Rookers the Family of the Year in 2022.
“Jack Rooker has been a dedicated supporter of UGA since he graduated more than 60 years ago, always eager to lend his time, wisdom and resources to ensure the continued excellence of this institution,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Generations of students, faculty and staff have benefitted from his passion and leadership in innumerable ways, and I am very grateful that he and his wife, Cindy, passed on their love for UGA to their children and grandchildren so that the Rooker family name will always be synonymous with the University of Georgia.”
Mr. Rooker’s legacy at UGA, shared with his wife Cindy (BSEd ’62), is exceptional and far-reaching. Like his father William A. Rooker (BSC ’33) before him, Mr. Rooker was honored with the Terry College Distinguished Alumni Award.
“Relationships make a huge difference in our lives,” Mr. Rooker said in 2017. “If Terry did nothing else but provide the contacts that have made many of us successful in our professional lives, that’s a job in itself. There’s a network through Terry that you just can’t replace. When asked for my support, I’ve always asked myself, ‘How do we keep it going? How do we keep developing contacts?’ Terry can make that happen better than any other thing I can think of. The school’s just been wonderful to me, and it’s been well worth my time to give back in return.”
Mr. Rooker was the first chairman of the UGA Real Estate Foundation when it was formed in 1999, a position he held for five years. He served on the board of trustees for the University of Georgia Foundation and offered support to the UGA Athletic Association’s golf facility and equestrian team center, funding the Rooker Equine Receiving Area and the Veterinary Medicine Hospital.
“Jack Rooker embodies the spirit of what it means to give back,” said Ben Ayers, UGA’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “His leadership, generosity, and unwavering commitment to the University of Georgia have strengthened our community, expanded opportunities for students across campus, and set a standard of service that will inspire generations to come.”
In 2005, a residence hall at the university’s East Campus Village was named the John W. Rooker Hall to commemorate his years of leadership and support. In 2013, UGA honored Mr. Rooker with the Alumni Merit Award for his distinguished and loyal service to UGA, and in 2014, the Rooker Family Need-Based Scholarship Fund was established. In 2017, Moore-Rooker Hall opened in the Terry College of Business Learning Community.
“Jack Rooker’s success in business is matched only by his dedication to education and mentorship,” said Terry College Interim Dean Santanu Chatterjee. “His investment in the Terry College reflects a deep belief in the power of a business education to transform lives. We are grateful for his leadership, his philanthropy, and his enduring belief in the mission of this school.”
John Winston ‘Jack’ Rooker was born May 28, 1938, in Atlanta. As a child, Mr. Rooker was taught the importance of civic responsibility and giving back from his father, William. “He led by example,” Mr. Rooker said of his father in 2005. “He taught us to give to our church, and he supported institutions like the Atlanta Arts Center and the University of Georgia.”
Following his 1960 graduation from UGA, Mr. Rooker joined the family business, Southern Bonded Warehouse, a company his father started in 1952 which leased commercial warehouse space and provided logistics for several national companies. Not long after, Mr. Rooker, his father, and his brother Bill (BBA ’58) got together with friends and launched First Fulton Corp, which in 1965 became Rooker Co., a construction and development business specializing in industrial and commercial real estate.
“As people grew their business in the South, they seemed to want their own building,” Mr. Rooker said. “I built a facility for Nestlé and one for the family business. We had two nice projects to get us started.”
Rooker Co. now designs and builds warehouses, large distribution centers and manufacturing and government facilities predominantly in the Southeast. Since this expansion of the family business into construction, his company has developed 500-plus sites — with more than 50 million square feet of new construction to its credit in industrial areas of Atlanta, Athens, Macon, and Louisville, Kentucky. Through the years, Rooker Co. supplied facilities for an impressive list of customers, including the Ford Motor Co., G.T.E., Siemens, Mead Corporation, Baxter Laboratory, Haverty’s Furniture, JCPenney, Marriott and Home Depot. In 2011 Mr. Rooker stepped down as CEO, and his son John (BBA ’02) took over.
“We kind of circle the city, with our circle getting bigger every year,” Mr. Rooker said of the company’s developments.
He received the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors Developer’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, and in 1995 was named Industrial Developer of the Year by the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks. He has also served as chair of the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce and on the board of directors for Omni Insurance Co. and The Westminster Schools.
He and Cindy have five children, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The family suggests donations to these organizations close to Mr. Rooker’s heart: Shepherd Center, 2020 Peachtree Rd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30309, or www.shepherd.org; and First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, 1328 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30309.