Billy Gene Heathcock, better known as Gene, an AISC Board of Directors member from 1996 to 2008, died October 19 at the age of 76.
Born July 11, 1945, Gene grew up in the Duke and Alexandria, Ala., communities, where he spent his teenage years farming. He graduated from Alexandria High in 1963, serving as senior class president, and where he was an all-county football star. After attending Jacksonville State University, he moved his family to Atlanta to work with Lockheed. He returned to the Anniston, Ala., area in 1970 and began working at Aseco Steel company. With his partners, he started AISC member fabricator FabArc Steel Supply, Inc., in 1979, which grew to 300 employees, and he retired from the company in 2013.
“We owe a great deal to Gene for his entrepreneurial spirit and vision in molding FabArc Steel into the company it is today,” said Tony Pugh, FabArc’s president. “We are forever grateful for these efforts. His spirit and ideals are embedded in our way of doing business and how we treat each other.
“Gene was a dedicated and motivated contributor to the activities of AISC,” recalled AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. “He regularly asked the questions that got our work headed in a better direction.”
Gene is survived by his children, Eric Heathcock and wife, Laurie, and Greg Heathcock and husband, Cesar Moreno; mother of his children, Doris Heathcock; and grandchildren, Kirin Heathcock, Axis Heathcock, and Zoe Heathcock.