Leader who helped Columbus State expand and spark downtown development dies
One of the leaders who helped Columbus State University expand and spark other downtown development has died.
Tom Helton, retired CSU vice president for business and finance, died Sunday at Piedmont Columbus Regional’s Midtown Medical Center, according to Cox Funeral Home.
He was 72.
Helton served on several task forces and committees for the University System of Georgia before he retired in 2019. He was executive director of CSU Foundation Properties when he died.
His prior roles at CSU were associate vice president for business and finance, assistant director of the CSU Foundation and Foundation Properties and director of planned giving.
Helton previously worked as senior vice president of Judson College in Marion, Alabama, and admissions director at LaGrange College.
His community involvement in Columbus included serving as a board member for the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts and Uptown Columbus. He was a deacon at Bethesda Baptist Church, taught in the Sunday school, sang in the choir and played in the praise band, according to his obituary.
The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach a current CSU official for comment before publication, but retired CSU president Frank Brown said in an email, “Tom’s untimely death is sad, both for his family and those of us who called him friend and for the growth and development of our community. . . . We will miss him, his ready wit and his friendship.”
Helena Coates, immediate past chairwoman of Uptown Columbus, the nonprofit organization that promotes downtown development, told the L-E that Helton was instrumental in growing the city’s core.
“He was always a very wise counsel, particularly on the Uptown board, and had a real passion for Uptown itself and CSU being a part of the community,” she said. “He was always a collaborator.”
Coates appreciated Helton balancing his role as an advocate for the university and the city.
“He would give you his CSU-hat perspective but also sit back and give you the right thing to do for the community as a whole,” she said. “He was always a team player.”
As a result, Coates said, Helton’s efforts contributed to revitalizing downtown as a live-work-play location.
“It was (retired CSU president) Frank Brown’s vision, but Tom was one of those who made it happen,” she said. “He was there driving the work every day. … It’s transformed downtown. CSU coming down there, bringing the students, bringing the residential aspect of it with kids living down there, it’s made a tremendous difference.”
Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. July 22 at Bethesda Baptist Church, 3830 Georgia Highway 85, in Ellerslie. A celebration of his life will be at 10 a.m. July 23 on the grounds of the Helton home, 580 First St., in Shiloh.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 10:01 AM.
