Longtime, Influential Member of Dawg Post Passes

ATHENS - I have sad news to pass along. 

Longtime Dawg Post member and very longtime UGA fan Al Gilbert passed away this week. 

Al was someone I considered a friend. He was critical to the Dawg Post community from the start. It is terribly crushing news to hear this. I spoke very briefly with his wife on Wednesday night to confirm the news. 

I spoke with Al a lot over time about a lot of different stuff. I usually kept him on the phone for too long. He was passionate about Georgia. Later in life it was more and more difficult for Al to go to games, but he made it as often as he could. I do wish I would have called Al lately just to check in. 

Al was also active in his community. He served on the Fayette County Planning Commission for 30 years. I have experience in municipal government, and I will tell you that only someone as patent as Al could take that sort of abuse for three decades. But we need people like Al who are willing to do the hard and often thankless work needed for communities to move forward. 

This is tremendously sad. 

Al was one of the first people I let know that Dawg Post, and more importantly our community, would be leaving our previous home and independently publishing online. I remember the last time I spoke with Al was about something that was going on with our community, and I wanted to ask his advise. He was supportive of me and our community the entire time. I am thankful that Al was such a good friend for what was nearly 20 years - or all of the time I have worked professionally. I could not have achieved success over the last 20 years without people like Al being human enough to help me along the way. 

Al Gilbert was important to me, and I am sad that he is gone. But I will remember all of the times he helped me, and I am grateful for him. 

For more information on Al Gilbert, known as Aldog, please click here.