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Politics & Government

Gov. Deal, Coke CEO Among Those Dedicating Oglethorpe Bell Tower

The Lale Özgörkey Bell Tower will be dedicated on Monday in a ceremony on the grounds of the Brookhaven university.


Oglethorpe University will host a ceremony on Monday, April 8 at 6 pm in front of Lupton Hall to officially dedicate the iconic bell tower of Lupton Hall as The Lale Özgörkey Bell Tower.

The naming is in recognition of a gift from the Özgörkey family. Cemal Özgörkey, chairman of Özgörkey Holding, is a member of the Oglethorpe University Board of Trustees. He and his brother, Armagan Özgörkey, vice chairman of Özgörkey Holding, are alumni of Oglethorpe University.

The name of the bell tower honors their mother, Lale Özgörkey.

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The gift benefits Oglethorpe’s new campus center, scheduled to open in August 2013.

Gov. Nathan Deal; Muhtar Kend, chairman of the board and CEO of The Coca-Cola Co.; and Oglethorpe president Lawrence Schall will also attend.

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“Oglethorpe’s relationship with the Özgörkey family began more than 30 years ago and we could not be more proud of Cemal and Armagan and what they accomplished,” said Schall. “It’s a tremendous privilege for our entire community to name the bell tower that overlooks our campus in honor of their mother, Lale Özgörkey.” 

Lupton Hall is named after John Thomas Lupton, the owner of the Southern franchise of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Lupton Hall was completed in three phases, with groundbreaking ceremonies in 1922, 1924 and 1927. The bell tower, a part of the original section of the hall, was built as a memorial to Lupton’s mother. Lupton Hall was the second building erected on the university’s campus. 

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