Legacy
Buildings constructed during Dempster's tenures as city manager and mayor include the Henley Street Bridge, the Church Avenue and Fifth Avenue viaducts, four public library branches, and Bill Meyer Stadium. He also convinced the city to buy Chilhowee Park and Tyson Park. Dempster built several houses in Knoxville, some of which still stand in Fountain City and Old North Knoxville.
Dempster hired the city's first African-American civil service secretary, and supported desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. He championed a number causes in support of the handicapped and the blind, including a radio program that featured blind pianists. He was given the Father Abram Ryan Award by the Knights of Columbus in recognition of his civil service shortly before his death.
Read more about this topic: George Roby Dempster
Famous quotes containing the word legacy:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)