Anthony Potter, Jr.

Tony Potter, 75, Director of Public Safety at Forsyth Medical Center

In Tampa, Florida in 1970 a former Marine MP was selected to organize a police force for the new Tampa International Airport before it opened in 1971. At 28, Tony Potter became the youngest police chief in Florida, then went on to lead five other departments during nearly fifty years in law enforcement and security.

Anthony Nicholas "Tony" Potter, of Winston-Salem, died on October 18, 2017.

Chief Potter was appointed Director of Security for Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in July 2003. After re-engineering the department, he was named Director of Public Safety the following year, and eventually assumed responsibilities for all Novant Health Triad Region facilities.

A career law enforcement officer, Chief Potter enlisted in United States Marine Corps in 1959 and was assigned to the military police. He later served as an interrogator-translator with naval intelligence in the Middle East and as a criminal investigator in the Marine Corps Reserve. After leaving the Marine Corps he organized a security force to protect what was then the world's largest enclosed shopping center, Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, New Jersey. In 1970 he became the youngest police chief in Florida when, at age 28, he was hired to organize a police force for Tampa International Airport, which opened in 1971. While at Tampa, he chaired the Airport Operators Council International Security Committee and served on the President's Commission on Civil Aviation Security. He later taught at the University of Cincinnati, then served as police chief of Danville, Illinois and police commissioner of the City of York, Pennsylvania. He moved to Atlanta in 1981 as vice president of the security division of Cousins Properties, then headed his own security consulting firm, Potter and Associates, Inc., before joining the Emory University System of Healthcare as Director of Public Safety. He retired from Emory in 1997 and served as chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Crime Commission for two years before being recruited by Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, one of the world's leading Level One trauma centers.

Chief Potter was active in a wide range of civic and professional organizations. He held various offices in the American Society for Industrial Security, the International Associations of Chiefs of Police, and the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. He served on the faculty of the International

Council of Shopping Centers Management Institute and the University of Shopping Centers for 15 years, and regularly lectured at colleges and police academies throughout the United States. He authored texts on shopping center security and the arming of healthcare security officer and over 150 articles in professional and trade journals, and was frequently interviewed on police and security matters in the local and national media. He testified as an expert witness in over 300 civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts, and his opinions were cited favorably in several landmark appellate court decisions. In 1994 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and in 2003 became the only security executive named a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Chief Potter held the professional designations of Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE), Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator-Fellow (CHPA-F), Certified Protection Professional

(CPP) and Certified Security Trainer (CST). His numerous awards included the Elwood "Woody" Near President's Award and two Lindberg Bell Awards from the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety, the Distinguished Service Award from the International Security Conference, and the Security World Award of Merit. He was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, commissioned as a lieutenant colonel and governor's aide de camp in the Georgia State Militia.

Chief Potter was a lifelong member of the Boy Scouts of America. An Eagle Scout, he held many local, regional and national positions including chairman of the first state, regional and national Law Enforcement Explorer Competitions in 1971, 1975 and 1979. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Executive Board of the Old Hickory Council.

Chief Potter's late wife, Cheryl Kay Dittman-Potter, died of breast cancer in 1996. He married Joyce Elaine Case of Bent Tree, Georgia in 1998. Survivors other than his wife include two daughters, Merika Elizabeth Gambaro of Portland, Oregon and Victoria Masters of Dunedin, Florida; one step-daughter, Angie Skelly, of Ovido, Florida; and six grandchildren. A funeral service will be held at 1:00 PM, Friday, October 27, 2017 at Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church with Dr. Mark J. Key officiating. Interment will follow at Forsyth Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 6-8 PM, Thursday, October 26, 2017 at Hayworth-Miller Silas Creek Chapel. Online condolences may be made at www.hayworth-miller.com.

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