Darlington School is pleased to announce the 2006 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients William M. “Billy” Huffman (’40) and Isaac M. “I.M.” Sulzbacher (’30). These alumni and their families were honored at this year’s Alumni Weekend
Darlington Celebration Oct. 13.
Huffman was born Oct. 23, 1923 in Rome, Ga. After graduating from Darlington, he attended the University of Georgia and served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II before entering the insurance business in 1946. He is past-chairman of Huffman & Associates, a risk management insurance brokerage company; chairman of THF Inc., a real estate and business investment group; and chairman emeritus of AmSouth Bank of Georgia, formerly Georgia State Bank, which he chartered in 1974. He is also founding director of Panda Energy International, a global energy corporation founded in 1984 in Dallas, Texas.
Huffman is a Life Trustee and current member of the Board of Visitors of Shorter College, a Trustee of the University of Georgia Student Educational Fund, and a Governor’s Appointee to the State Commission on Compensation. Additionally, he has served the Rome community for more than 50 years through organizations such as the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce, Exchange Club, YMCA, Red Cross and Floyd County Health Care Foundation. He is a four-time recipient of the YMCA Service Award, and has also earned both the Jaycee Distinguished Service Award and the Heart of the Community Award.
Huffman continues to be an active member of the Darlington community, serving as a Life Trustee, class agent and member of the J.J. Darlington Society. In 2003, his son, W.M. “Rocky” Huffman Jr. ’67, established The Huffman Family Scholarship in his honor. The scholarship provides financial assistance to a day student. Last year, Huffman and his wife, Jo Gross Huffman, gave the first-ever Teresa Huffman Watters Award to a Lower School student in honor of their daughter, a 1972 Thornwood alumna and retired Lower School teacher.
Sulzbacher was born Jan. 23, 1913 in Rome, Ga. After graduating from Darlington, he attended Dartmouth College and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. A life-long businessman, he was president of Jacobs Jewelers in Jacksonville, Fla., an underwriter for New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. and a life insurance broker for National Life Insurance Company until his retirement in 1989.
Sulzbacher’s civic work was noted on many occasions. He received the 15th Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award after serving for many years as an officer and Board member of the Chamber and president of the Jacksonville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Rotary Club, Boy Service Council, Tuberculosis Association of Duval County, American Cancer Society, YMCA, Bartram School Board of Trustees and Arts Assembly. He also held leadership roles with the Jacksonville Symphony, United Way, Navy League, Memorial Hospital, Salvation Army and Bolles School Board of Trustees.
For 10 years, Sulzbacher served Jacksonville as City Council at Large, and was elected Outstanding City Councilman three times. He was then appointed to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, where he took the lead in expanding the city’s expressway system. He also served on Mayor Austin’s Fiscal Policy Committee and chaired both the JCCI Study on Planning and Land Use and the Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of Jacksonville. In the latter capacity, he established a center for the homeless, which today bears his name, the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless.
Sulzbacher died June 5, 2001 at the age of 88. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Sulzbacher; son, William “Bill” Sulzbacher ’63 and wife, Anne; and several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Nominees for the Distinguished Alumnus Award must have distinguished themselves in one or more of the following areas since graduating from Darlington: notable achievement within an occupational or professional field; service to his or her community, state or nation; service to the arts, sciences or humanitarian causes; or loyalty to Darlington, as demonstrated by service and/or financial support of its students, faculty, athletic programs, Alumni Association or Board of Trustees. After nominations have been solicited from the alumni body, the award recipient is selected by an Executive Committee of the Alumni Council, composed of the president of the Alumni Council, the chairman of the Board of Trustees and the alumni relations officer.
For more information, please contact the Alumni Office at 706-236-0408.
