Atlanta philanthropist and businessman A.D. "Pete" Correll, known for leading one of Georgia's biggest companies and helping to save Atlanta's public hospital, has died. He was 80.
"Pete Correll's impact on our state will be felt for generations to come," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.
Correll was instrumental in revitalizing Grady Memorial Hospital during a time when there were fears it could close because of financial woes.
Correll was a native of Brunswick, Georgia; he later moved to Atlanta and worked in paper mills before joining paper and materials manufacturer Georgia-Pacific in 1988, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
He rose to chairman and CEO of Georgia-Pacific in 1993. He later negotiated a $21 billion sale of the company to Wichita-based Koch Industries.
"I had always had a very simple premise in my life that I might not be smarter than anybody else, but I can outwork anybody," he said in a 2014 talk at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta's northwest suburbs.
