Pomerance and Associates

Goodbye to the beloved founding mother of Sandy Springs

April 22, 2015 | by Bonnie Moret | filed under: Anne Frank, Anne Frank in the World Exhibit, Eva Galambos, Mayor of Sandy Springs, Sandy Springs

Photo courtesy of Hyosub Shin/AJC

Galambos lived in Sandy Springs for almost five decades and was the driving force behind the city’s incorporation. Galambos, the “founding mother” of Sandy Springs who led the 2005 push for cityhood and served as the new city’s first mayor, died April 19, 2015.  Galambos, 87, had cancer.

Sandy Springs’ current mayor, Rusty Paul, said in a prepared statement, “This is a great loss for the city and a great loss personally. Eva was truly our city mother. Her efforts led to the city’s creation. She cared and nurtured the city, and the strength of our community is due greatly to her unwavering love and devotion to creating something better for us all.”

In her 2011 memoir, A Dream Come True: My Very Good Life, Eva Galambos chronicles what she called a very rich life. Her family escaped the Nazis in the 1930’s, moving with her family first to Italy, and later to Athens, Georgia where she attended high school and college. Galambos earned a Masters’ degree in Labor and Industrial Relations in the early 1950s. Early on, Galambos showed that she was a trailblazer. She was admitted into the first class at Georgia State University to grant Ph.D. degrees to women, earning her Ph.D. in Economics in 1969.

Galambos was an early champion for the public-private partnership model of local government. Rather than employ hundreds of city employees, the city utilizes a public-private partnership, which has resulted in the one of the lowest per capita ratio of municipal employees in the State.

During her tenure, the city operated with no long-term debt, and was able to vastly improve the city’s infrastructure and quality of life of its residents. Among the improvements during the city’s first eight years: more than 147 miles of road paved, 32 miles of fiber installed and activated, 129 traffic signal brought under a unified control system, 30 miles of sidewalk installed, more than 750 stormwater repairs implemented, more than $180 million in funded Capital Projects, and more than $18 million invested in recreation facilities, including the creation of several new parks for Sandy Springs.

Galambos was also responsible for moving the exhibit honoring the brief life of Anne Frank to Sandy Springs.  The move was the third in six years for the program, owned by the Anne Frank House in the Netherlands and run by the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. This exhibit is the first tourist attraction in Sandy Springs.  “I personally am very committed to the idea of keeping alive the history of the Holocaust so it can never happen again and keeping this tremendous attraction in our community,” said Mayor Eva Galambos, whose husband, John, is a Holocaust survivor.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks consideration of a donation to the Anne Frank in the World Exhibit or to a charity of one’s choice.

To read more about Eva Galambos, visit the following links:

Atlanta Journal Constitution: www.myajc.com/gallery/news/local/through-years-eva-galambos/gCBWb/

CBS Atlanta: atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/04/21/flags-fly-at-half-staff-final-respectspaid-to-eva-galambos/

Reporter Newspapers: www.reporternewspapers.net/2015/04/19/sandy-springs-mourns-loss-of-founding-mayor-eva-galambos/

Atlanta Business Chronical: www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2015/04/first-mayor-of-sandy-springs-eva-galambos-dead-at.html?page=all

Atlanta Jewish Times: atlantajewishtimes.com/2015/04/eva-galambos-jewish-mother-to-an-entire-city/

Neighbor Newspapers: www.neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/26588867/article-UPDATED–Eva-Galambos–Sandy-Springs–1st-mayor–dies-at-87