The family of former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson announced Sunday that he died overnight.
Isakson, who was 76, served in the Georgia legislature and the U.S. Congress for more than 40 years.
The owner of a successful real estate agency, the longtime East Cobb resident also was active in civic affairs for much of his adult life.
He also was chairman of the Georgia Board of Education during his public career.
A Republican who espoused bipartisanship, Isakson was chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee when he retired in late 2019, during his third term, due to Parkinson’s Disease.
In a statement issued by his family, his son John Isakson said that “we are grateful for everyone’s prayers as we mourn the loss of our father.”
Funeral arrangements have not been completed for Isakson, who would have been 77 on Dec. 28.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement Sunday that “Georgia has lost a giant, one of its greatest statesmen, and a servant leader dedicated to making his state and country better than he found it.”
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston said that “Johnny believed that we are at our best when we work together for the common good and that who gets the credit doesn’t matter as much as what we get done.”
Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who was Isakson’s Georgia colleague, said that “Johnny’s entire life revolved around service. He always put others before himself. The last few years have not been easy for Johnny, but he responded to every obstacle with stalwart resilience. His dry wit and kind heart will be missed by everybody who knew him.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who unseated Perdue in a January 2021 runoff, said that “Senator Isakson was a statesman who served Georgia with honor. He put his state and his country ahead of self and party, and a great legacy endures.”
State. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican from East Cobb, called Isakson “a great role model and friend. Sincere condolences to his family. It’s a sad day for Georgia as we mourn this giant.”
Former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, said Isakson “served the whole of Georgia with attention and fairness. . . . Though he held different ideologies, I was honored to call him a friend.”
Isakson moved to East Cobb from Atlanta in the late 1960s as he was building up Northside Realty and getting involved in the local business scene.
He was elected to the Georgia House in 1974 as a Republican in a Democrat-dominated legislature, and developed a reputation for working across party lines.
After a failed bid for governor in 1990, Isakson was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1992. He lost in the GOP primary for U.S. Senator in 1996, then was elected to succeed outgoing U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich to represent the 6th Congressional District of Georgia in 1998.
Isakson was re-elected twice before winning his first race for the U.S. Senate in 2004.
He won a third term in 2016 after acknowledging his Parkinson’s diagnosis. In July 2019, he was hospitalized after falling in his Washington apartment, and he announced his retirement in November.
Kemp appointed businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to succeed Isakson until the 2020 election, when she was defeated by Democrat Raphael Warnock, whose term expires in 2022.
Isakson and his wife Dianne raised their family in East Cobb, their children and grandchildren having attended Walton High School.
He was on hand when the new Walton classroom building was opened in 2017. In the 1970s, when he was working in the real estate industry, Isakson said former Cobb school superintendent Kermit Keenum asked him to help find some land for a new high school to accommodate rapid growth in East Cobb.
He noted during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the Bill Murdock Road properties on which Walton and nearby Dodgen Middle School are located cost around $4,500.
“That would cost at least 10 times that amount today,” said Isakson.
In 2018, was named the East Cobb Citizen of the Year and was recognized by the Cobb Board of Commissioners for his service to the community shortly after his retirement.
Isakson was a longtime member of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, where he taught a Sunday School class well into his political career.
As Isakson prepared to leave office, he was given a special tribute in the U.S. House, where Atlanta Congressman John Lewis gave the wheelchair-bound senator a warm embrace.
After hearing the tributes of his Senate peers, Isakson in his final remarks implored his colleagues to “find a way to find common ground.” He said, “America, we have a problem,” but that “we can do anything” by dropping hard party labels. “Bipartisanship will be the way you accomplish things, the way you live.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
