PACE ACADEMY’S GUIDING LIGHT In the second in a series of articles about those who shaped our school, FRED GLASS ’89 introduces us to MILLS B. LANE, JR.
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MILLS B. LANE, JR.
There’s something special about Pace Academy. Call it divine intervention or extraordinary luck, but the school’s survival through infancy and successful entry into adulthood was nothing short of miraculous, thanks to unlikely heroes who arrived in hours of need. In 1958, the hero was Mills Bee Lane, Jr.
“A Little Gem of a School” The 1950s and 60s were transformational periods of both growth and struggle in Atlanta. Not since the Civil War and Reconstruction had the city and the South experienced such social turmoil and upheaval, and nowhere were disruptions more keenly felt than in Georgia’s public schools. For many Buckhead-area residents, schools fell short of what parents desired for their children. There was widespread dissatisfaction with a general teaching emphasis that discouraged critical reasoning, as well as a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the implementation of racial integration following the Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. Board of Education. It was entirely possible that the Governor might shut down state school systems in defiance of the federal government, and Buckhead’s existing independent schools had reached capacity. It was time for an additional school. Despite the tumult, many of Atlanta’s defining characteristics and institutions, including Pace Academy, came into being during this period—due in large measure to MILLS B. LANE, JR. Unlike many of its sister schools, Pace shares no affiliation with a church or religious organization and, in its early days, lacked a pool of large benefactors. Instead, the school relied on concerned citizens to provide much-needed financial support. When Pace Academy, Inc. was formed in February 1958, organizers hoped to acquire the Ogden family property at 966 W. Paces Ferry for the new school’s campus. Attempts
to raise the necessary funds proved moderately successful; however, Pace Academy, Inc. required a sizable bank loan to close the deal. No bank dared consider a loan to this “risky venture”—save for C&S Bank, led by Lane, its eccentric and flamboyant president. Known as “Georgia’s cornerstone bank,” C&S was legendary for taking gambles, especially when they involved worthy causes. In Lane’s mind, Pace fit the bill. C&S’s initial loan allowed Pace to open its doors in September 1958, initiating Lane’s profound and personal interest in the school’s success. Lane had a vision for Pace: he hoped it would become “a little gem of a school.”
Born to be a Banker Mills Bee Lane, Jr. was born in 1912 in Savannah to a family rooted deeply in Georgia’s banking industry. In 1906, his father, Mills Bee Lane, Sr., orchestrated the merger of the Citizens Bank of Savannah and the Southern Bank of the State of Georgia, creating the Citizens and Southern Bank of Georgia (C&S Bank). Located in Savannah’s historic cotton port, the commercial center of the state, C&S became the largest bank between Baltimore and New Orleans. In the 1930s, bank operations moved to Atlanta when the “uncouth upstart” surpassed Savannah as the state’s economic hub. A product of New England prep schools and Yale University, the junior Mills entered the banking business and succeeded his father as president of C&S. From 1946 to 1971, Lane oversaw C&S as it grew to become the most profitable of the nation’s top 50 banks. Reports estimate that one in three Georgians banked with C&S in the post-war years, and C&S bankrolled many businesses inextricably linked to Atlanta and Georgia’s economic vitality: Delta Air Lines, Waffle House, Gold Kist, Georgia Pacific, Scientific Atlanta and the Atlanta Braves. The city’s most visionary and progressive bank, Lane’s C&S built a
reputation for the combination of informality and sophistication that came to define the “New South.” Lane was just 34 when he ascended to the C&S presidency—the youngest bank president in the country. What he lacked in age, he made up for in education, innovation and fearlessness. Lane recognized that the postWWII world was changing rapidly and that the banking business—“as archaic as The Iliad or The Odyssey”—demanded new ideas. He abhorred the preceding generation of bankers; he called them “the old men in black suits, sitting behind big mahogany desks, and with disgusting personalities.” Lane felt strongly that banking needed to be “humanized,” and that banking services should be friendly, easy and accessible. Many of his ideas, now commonplace, were unheard of at the time. Lane was the first southern banker, for instance, to offer credit cards, and he pioneered the concept of cash access or “instant money” for cardholders. He introduced banking by mail, drive-up windows, personal installment loans, cheap “pay-as-you-go checking” accounts, and travel and insurance services. He encouraged his loan officers to take risks and gave them full authority to make loans up to the legal bank limit, requiring them to report only the loans they rejected. “I felt it was better to trust people and be deceived once in a while than never trust anybody,” Lane said. While Lane’s vision for and success at C&S cemented his legacy in the business world, his civic leadership left an even greater imprint on his city and the South—one that remains to this day.
A Life of Service As a boy, visiting C&S branches with his father deeply imbued Lane with a sense that banking, unlike any other industry, had a unique responsibility for public service. “We must play our part as community citizens,
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taking an interest in all good and constructive things,” he later said. This sense of duty and commitment to service proved a driving force throughout Lane’s life. While he referred to himself as “a southern traditionalist,” Lane’s Yale experience instilled what he called “a liberal outlook on the race issue.” He believed that the South could not reach its full potential until it eliminated racial segregation. Lane’s focus on racial fairness, inclusion, and equality, in the context of his day, drove him toward forms of stewardship that fostered ties across racial lines and among citizens with varying religious, ideological and socio-economic backgrounds. To that end, he initiated The Georgia Plan, a C&S program that provided loans to minority homeowners and businesses. Lane also placed great value on the liberal arts education. He believed that a good bank employee should be characterized by a “diversity of interests” and “love [for] his fellow man.” An unabashed southern patriot, Lane championed any cause that might garner national prominence for his beloved South. And whenever the Yale Bulldogs played the University of Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Ga., Lane could be found amongst the UGA fans when the football team marched into the stadium.
A Political Powerhouse Lane was a major player in Atlanta’s closeknit business community, and he understood the complex relationship between the city’s politics and economy. He is perhaps most famous for providing the City of Atlanta an unrestricted line of credit on a handshake deal with then-Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. to “build a stadium with money it did not have, on land it did not own, for a team it had not yet signed.” Allen came to Lane only after everyone else denied his funding requests. Atlanta Fulton County Stadium soon welcomed the Braves, and the Falcons followed. Lane and Allen partnered on other initiatives as well. In 1960, they were the only business leaders willing to negotiate with student demonstrators to end a lunch-counter boycott. It was Lane who convinced Allen to run for mayor, and Lane successfully managed Allen’s 1960 and 1965 campaigns. With the support of Atlanta’s black leadership and
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voters, Allen skillfully navigated the violent upheavals of the 1960s and testified before Congress in favor of federal legislation to end discrimination at public accommodations. Many have said that Allen’s mayoral record is in part a testament to Lane’s skillful, behind-the-scenes work to advance progressive candidates and agendas. Lane also supported Carl Sanders’ successful 1962 gubernatorial campaign against segregationist and former Governor Marvin Griffin. “[Lane was] one of the great unsung heroes of our time,” Sanders recalled. “I personally feel like my election… and many of the programs I initiated were because of the inspiration I received from the advice and counsel of Mills B. Lane.” Interestingly, Sanders delivered the commencement address at Pace’s second graduation ceremony in 1965. At Allen’s request, Lane founded The Commerce Club, an exclusive social organization that continues to facilitate communication between a diverse group of business and civic leaders. Lane also was instrumental in providing funds to purchase land for the governor’s mansion and the Buford Dam, which created Lake Lanier. He negotiated the purchase of Stone Mountain and its conversion into a park and, in his retirement years, helped preserve Savannah’s historic district. “[Lane] had a vision of development not just for Atlanta, but the entire South, and he was bullish in his support of public and private projects that he believed would help create economic growth,” said Dr. George Manners, founding dean of Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
ated his humble approach to the corner-office position. Lane’s office sat on the bank’s main level rather than its exclusive sixth floor; he answered his own phone, and his door remained open for anyone who wanted to see him. When asked how he achieved such success, Lane frequently responded, “Hell, my father owned the joint!” and went on to explain that his life’s greatest accomplishment was his choice of ancestors. A competing bank president once remarked, “We have employees. Mills Lane has disciples.” Lane recognized staff accomplishments with neckties featuring a smiling sun, a bale of cotton and the words “It’s a Wonderful World!” He was fiercely competitive, citing a “burning desire to have fun and give our competitors hell!” A rival once said, “Mills would stand on his head on top of the C&S flagpole if he thought it would get him a new savings account.” He was correct.
"It’s a Wonderful World!"
Lane’s attire reflected his personality and included outlandish sports jackets, flashy slacks and white bucks; he frequently wore tennis shoes to work. Due to color blindness, he often donned bright, clashing colors that his bemused colleagues described as “bad works of art.” On July 4, he dressed as George Washington and read the Declaration of Independence to neighborhood children. Days began with a Coca-Cola and a cigarette, and Lane’s early morning inspirational meetings were dubbed “Mills’ sunrise services.” His mind constantly raced with new ideas that colleagues called “Mills’ hot flashes”; not surprisingly, they often inspired the bank’s next stage of growth.
Lane’s famous salutation, “It’s a wonderful world! Can I sell you some money today?,” and his insistence that all C&S employees “call me Mills” sit in stark contrast to “the men in black suits” of his father’s day. Those who knew Lane best described him as quirky and eccentric, brilliant and full of energy and imagination. Former Upper School Principal BOB CHAMBERS, who arrived at Pace in 1963, describes Lane as “a very talented individual with lots of energy and enthusiasm and an excellent memory.” The exuberant executive inspired intense loyalty amongst his employees, who appreci-
To promote Georgia’s wool industry, Lane herded a flock of sheep into the bank’s main lobby; he drove a toy car into a meeting to “rev up the competition,” often showed up in baseball or football uniforms to promote teamwork, and even stormed a C&S conference room wearing a shooting jacket and unloaded a round of .30-caliber cartridges to encourage his executives to pursue bigger targets.
MILLS B. LANE, JR.
“We Will Do the Right Thing” To Lane, helping Pace get off the ground served a dual purpose: It would provide an additional educational option for local families, and it would benefit the city of Atlanta. Lane believed that any truly great city needed a quality public-school system, as well as a variety of private and parochial schools from which to choose. At the time, Buckhead’s fine independent schools were somewhat myopically focused on academic achievement. In contrast, Lane and other early Pace supporters envisioned a small, family oriented school that, according to Chambers, “had a heart” and “truly looked after the kids” while providing a first-rate, college-preparatory, liberal arts education. Much like The Commerce Club, Pace would welcome families of differing faiths and backgrounds in such a way that would eliminate marginalization. Pace remained true to this vision when, in 1967, the school received its first black applicant. Lane served on the Pace Board of Trustees, and the group quickly voted not to deny admittance based upon race, which
would have been legal at the time. “It’s important to remember that Pace never had a policy of exclusion,” Chambers notes. The Board was secure in its decision, yet there was legitimate concern regarding the financial impact should Pace families withdraw their children as a result of the ruling. Lane famously declared, “We will do the right thing, and I will back it up.” Approximately 20 percent of the student body left Pace following the Board’s decision to admit a black student. Swallowing a significant loss of tuition dollars, Lane and C&S stood by the school as promised, allaying fears of financial ruin.
Lane’s Pace Legacy Lane’s impact on Pace’s development cannot be overstated. In addition to his financial support through C&S, Lane recruited influential and visionary leaders to the Board of Trustees, including RUSSELL BRIDGES, for whom Bridges Hall, the old Upper School, was named. Bridges served as chair of the Board from 1960 until 1970 and hired FRANK KALEY as Pace’s first head-
Left to right: L.L. Gellerstedt, the C&S banker who ran most of the daily loan work for Delta Air Lines; Mills B. Lane, Jr.; and C.E. Woolman, the founder of Delta
master. Kaley employed Chambers, who in turn brought on many of Pace’s most beloved educators, individuals who have changed the lives of thousands of Pace alumni. Many continue to teach at Pace today. As evidence of their affection for Pace, Lane and his wife, ANNE LANE, donated personal funds to build the Gardens plaza and covered walkway that existed until Bridges Hall was demolished. Early Trustees described Lane as Pace’s “guiding light,” a man who energized supporters to coalesce around their vision for the “little gem of a school.” Service, diversity and inclusion—traits not always valued at the time of Pace’s founding—are part of the school’s DNA, thanks in large part to Lane’s influence. His leadership gave birth to the spirit that has distinguished and propelled Pace forward ever since. Mills B. Lane, Jr., died on May 7, 1989, and was buried next to his father in Bonaventure Cemetery outside Savannah. “You don’t have to die to be forgotten,” Lane said a year before his death. Certainly, Pace Academy stands as a testament to his memory. •
SOURCES: Alston Glenn An Unfinished History of Pace Academy, Suzi Zadeh Bob Chambers The C&S, Georgia’s Cornerstone Bank, Jan Pogue, 1993 Mills B. Lane, Jr. and Enterprise in a New South, Randall L. Patton, Department of History and Philosophy, Kennesaw State University, 2009 Mills B. Lane, Jr. (1912–1989), Edward A. Hatfield, New Georgia Encyclopedia, Sept. 16, 2014 Mills Bee Lane, Jr., Jan. 29, 1912–May 7, 1989, “It’s A Wonderful World,” Merritt Steed Bond New York Times, Obituary, May 10, 1989 The Wonderful World of Mills B. Lane, Jr., Mills Lane, 1990
Photos courtesy of The C&S, Georgia’s Cornerstone Bank, Jan Pogue, 1993
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