Albert Preston Brewer, the 49th Governor of Alabama, died on Jan. 2, 2017.
He was born in Bethel Springs, Tennessee on Oct. 26, 1928 to Daniel Austin Brewer and Clara Albert Brewer.
He was preceded in death in 2006 by Martha Farmer Brewer, his beloved wife of 56 years, who was his inspiration as well as his sweetheart, best friend, and the light of his life. He and Martha had two daughters, Becky Cooper, who died in 2009, and Alison Calhoun who survives him. He is also survived by his sons-in-law, James Cooper, Jr. and Mark F. Calhoun who were his best friends; his granddaughters, Mary Martha Knowlton (Andrew) and Katie Calhoun Johnson (Geoff); and by his grandson, James Preston Cooper (Lauren). Five grandchildren, Elizabeth Ann Cooper, McClain Knowlton, Mary Austin Knowlton, Anne Yates Knowlton and Charles Brewer Johnson also survive.
Governor Brewer was a lawyer, public servant, teacher, church man, and devoted family man whose pride and joy were his loved ones referred to by Martha as “our little family.” He was educated in the public schools of Decatur, Alabama and received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Alabama. He practiced law in Decatur and Montgomery and represented Morgan County in the Alabama House of Representatives for three terms during the last of which he was Speaker of the House.
He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1966 and became Governor upon the death of Governor Lurleen Wallace in 1968. He brought to the office of governor a voice of moderation, dignity, and integrity with focus on education, highway and bridge construction, ethics in state government, and economic development.
He joined Samford University in 1987 as Distinguished Professor of Law and Government teaching in Samford’s College of Arts & Sciences and in Samford’s Cumberland School of Law. Among his major achievements at Samford was the organization of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), a “think tank” located as Samford which provides independent research on state and local government in Alabama and has been a source of reliable and unbiased information.
He was a member of Mountain Brook Baptist Church where he taught a men’s Sunday school class, served as a life deacon, served as a trustee, chairman of the deacons and in numerous other positions. At Samford he was elected to three separate terms as a trustee, and has served as vice-chairman and chairman of the executive committee.
He was an organizer and director of First State Bank of Decatur which later merged into First Alabama Bancshares and its successor where he served as a board member and audit chairman during its period of greatest prosperity.
His public service includes leadership in a broad spectrum of government issues including public education, industrial development, modernization of our court system, constitutional reform and his beloved legal profession to which he devoted a significant part of his professional life. He believed in the dignity and worth of every person and believed the measure of a society is how it treats its less fortunate citizens.
Per Governor Brewer’s request, funeral services were held privately for the family. In lieu of usual remembrances, memorials may be directed to two favorite Brewer charities: Big Oak Ranch, Post Office Box 507, Springville, Alabama 35146, and the Martha F. and Albert P. Brewer Scholarship Fund at Cumberland School of Law, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Homewood, Alabama 35229, or to the donor’s favorite charity. Services were under the direction of Ridout’s Valley Chapel (205-879-3401) in Homewood.
