DACULA, Ga. (AP) - Jimmy Wilbanks, the longtime mayor of a small city outside Atlanta, has died at 76.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the lifelong resident of Dacula in Gwinnett County died Thursday from complications of cancer.
Wilbanks led the city in both the 1970s and for the past 16 years, and is credited with ushering one of the county’s more rural cities into the modern era. When Wilbanks was first elected mayor, the former railroad town had just several hundred residents. It now boasts a population of more than 5,000 and a retail hub.
Wilbanks was a graduate of the University of Georgia - in pre-highway days, Dacula was known as a cut-through between Atlanta and Athens. He spent his professional career at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
He’s survived by a cousin.
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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com
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