Benny Alderman

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colleagues remembered businessman and former Colquitt County Board of Commissioners Chairman John B. “Benny” Alderman as a generous person who was dedicated to his community.

Alderman, 81, died on Saturday. He served as commission chair for eight years, leaving that post after 2014 after he chose to not seek reelection. Funeral services were held Tuesday.

County Commissioner Johnny Hardin said that he and Alderman were friends before they served together and remained so when Alderman left the commission.

“He was a good man who cared about Colquitt County,” he said. “He was a good leader in the community.”

In addition to serving on the county commission, Alderman served as chairman of the Colquitt Regional Medical Center Hospital Authority and was a past member of the county’s Development Authority.

“He’s going to really be missed,” Hardin said. “He was a fine man. I don’t think you could say enough about him.”

When Alderman built a baseball field in the early 1990s, Hardin said, he asked whether he could put on a tournament for 11- and 12-year-old Little League players with teams from the area. Alerman immediately agreed.

“He was there every day somebody was playing out there,” Hardin said. “He was a strong support of athletics. He went to Packer games.”

As a businessman, Alderman was one of the original owners of Destiny Industries, founded in 1978, where he was executive vice president. He also was involved in the beginning of other business, including Triangle Ventures, The Moultrie Inn, Kendallwood Crossing, Southlake, The Silver Dollar Diner, Boggy Pond Plantation and Sundown Farms Plantation.

Alderman was chosen as Colquitt County’s Man of the Year in 1997.

County Commissioner Donna Herndon — whose late husband Billy, also a former commissioner, was a first cousin of Alderman’s wife Ellen — said she remembers him as being always upbeat and seeing the best in everybody.

“He was all about helping with things that were good for the community,” she said.

Behind the scenes, she said, Alderman was generous in helping others.

“He was a good man,” Herndon said. “He was very family oriented and loved his grandchildren. I never heard him say anything bad about anybody. He will be missed.”