Obituary: Joseph Lay

Joseph Lay, considered by many to be the dean of the Georgia municipal bond community and instrumental in helping to realize major public projects in Atlanta and around the state, died Oct. 2 from complications related to emphysema. He was 83. At the time of his death, Mr. Lay had been a financial adviser for more than 50 years and, most recently, a senior managing consultant for Public Financial Management. He was known as a true professional and a fair person.“He was just a warm person. I never heard a bad word said about Joe Lay and I never heard Joe Lay say a bad word about anyone else,” said Jamie Wilson, senior vice president for Merchant Capital. “He was just a very special individual.”Mr. Lay graduated from Emory University and began his career in 1950 in the public finance department at the Trust Company of Georgia. Later in the decade, Mr. Lay moved over to Robinson-Humphrey, where he eventually ran the bond department and worked for a total of 30 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Lay was instrumental in the early bond financing for such large Atlanta metropolitan projects as Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Grady Memorial Hospital, and other projects that now dot the Atlanta and greater Georgia landscape. After leaving Robinson-Humphrey in 1990, Mr. Lay worked as an independent financial adviser. He was working for the firm of Evanson Dodge when PFM acquired the firm and hired him several years ago. In addition to advising municipalities, Mr. Lay was known for advising younger colleagues and explaining the subtle nuances of each deal. “He always took the time to mentor people and to explain the business,” said Peter Kessenich, a managing director at PFM, who knew Mr. Lay for 35 years.. “He basically taught me the muni business.”“He mentored by example,” Wilson said. “When you work around a guy like that for 15 years or more, you understand what the business is about and how it should be conducted.” Prior to his public finance career, Mr. Lay served in the infantry during World War II. He served in a mortar platoon and was honored with a Purple Heart for his service. Mr. Lay is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ruth, and his daughter, Ruth.