5/14/01

Roy Summerford

CONSERVATION LEADER, AU BENEFACTOR KELLY MOSLEY DIES AT 98

AUBURN -- W. Kelly Mosley, a retired telephone industry executive who was a prominent conservationist and leading benefactor of Auburn University for a half century, died Sunday, May 13, in Atlanta. He was 98.

Mosley, a 1924 Auburn graduate, retired in 1963 as vice president for public relations at Southern Bell, forerunner to BellSouth. For much of his career with the then-AT&T unit, Mosley was a colleague of fellow Auburn graduate Ben Gilmer, who later became president of AT&T.

Although nationally prominent in the communications field during his 40-year career, Mosley became widely known outside the industry as a conservation leader and education benefactor following his retirement. During the 1960s, '70s and '80s, he was a leading benefactor of AU, where he established lectureships, professorships and conservation award programs.

While contributing heavily to Auburn, Mosley also recruited other benefactors to the university. Also, as chairman of the Atlanta-based John and Mary Franklin Foundation, he was instrumental in establishing AU's first and still most prominent lecture series, the Franklin Lectures in Science and Humanities.

An ardent environmentalist, Mosley established professorships in the humanities, natural sciences and other fields at Auburn, as well as a series of awards, the W. Kelly Mosley Environmental Awards for Achievements in Forestry, Wildlife and Related Resources. He also established the Helene Mosley Memorial Treasure Forest Awards in honor of his late wife through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System to encourage conservation practices across the state.

The owner of Pineland, a large tract of forest land in Marengo County, Mosley was the first landowner in the state to participate in Alabama's Treasure Forest program, in which landowners, the Extension System and state agencies cooperated to foster conservation practices. Pinewood became a model laboratory for cost-effective, environment-friendly practices in forestry, fisheries and wildlife management that have been widely copied throughout the region.

The Atlanta resident was twice president of the Auburn Alumni Association and was a frequent visitor to campus well into his 80s. In his 90s, he visited less often but maintained regular correspondence with administrators and faculty in his program areas.

Mosley received a honorary degree from Auburn in 1973 in recognition of his leadership within the alumni ranks as well as his support for the university. He also won awards from AU's humanities and engineering programs and from various statewide conservation groups.

"He was a very important figure in the transition between the Draughon and Philpott administrations, and he helped to make the early years of the Philpott era a success," recalled longtime friend Taylor Littleton, who was vice president for academic affairs at AU during those years. "He was the model of a faithful alumnus, who despite multiple interests, his thoughts never left Auburn," said Littleton, who later in his career held a Mosley professorship and directed the Franklin Lecture Series, now the Littleton-Franklin Lecture Series.

"He never asked anything in return for his support," Littleton said. "For Kelly, Auburn was a constant source of renewal that seemed to recharge his energy level," he added..

"The university reached out to him in his cultural and personal life in ways he never seemed to forget, and he was always looking for ways to repay the university for making his life better," Littleton said.

Betty DeMent, AU's vice president for alumni and development, said Mosley was one of her most admired people.

"Auburn lost one of its most honorable alumni in Kelly Mosley," she said. "He believed in and supported his university in so many wonderful ways, and he stayed interested in the institution until the end of his life. He has so many diverse interests and he supported those interests so fully that he was an inspiration to everyone whose life he touched."

Mosley is survived by his daughter and son-in-law Ann and John Brown of Atlanta and two grandchildren. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, May 16, at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta.

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