On November 7, 2025, we gathered on Founders’ Day weekend to celebrate 100 years of the Atlanta Alumni Chapter — honoring our history, presenting the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award to Brother John Watton, and looking ahead to the century to come.
1925 – 2025
Atlanta Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi
1920s
Jun 1925A group of Kappa brothers from Georgia State University charters the Atlanta Alumni “Club.”
The Deltasig magazine’s announcement of the newly chartered Atlanta Alumni Club, 1925.
1930s
1936The chapter lays the cornerstone of the Deltasig Lodge during Grand Chapter Congress — described in the chapter’s own history as “more than a building.” Kappa brothers and other business students had formed an investment club, pooling funds to purchase the stock and real estate that became the Lodge: a corporation, a gathering place, and the seed of the chapter’s philanthropic engine for decades to come.
The laying of the Lodge cornerstone in 1936, during Grand Chapter Congress.
1940s
1947The Alumni Club’s officer roster is formally documented — early evidence of a maturing leadership structure, including a dedicated Deltasig Lodge Committee.
Atlanta Alumni Club officers and committees, fiscal year 1947–48.
1950s
1951–53Brother Howard B. Johnson (Kappa) serves as Grand President of Delta Sigma Pi.
1953–55Brother Robert G. Busse serves as Grand President of Delta Sigma Pi — the same Bob Busse later honored by the chapter’s service award.
1957–61Brother Homer T. Brewer (Kappa) serves as Grand President of Delta Sigma Pi.
1960s
1968A new Deltasig Lodge location — the chapter’s investment property relocates to the land that becomes Northlake Mall.
1970s
1975Following the sale of the Northlake Mall property, Brother Thoben Elrod establishes the Clyde Kitchens Foundation, honoring the Kappa brother and chapter advisor who passed in 1969.
1980s
1981–94Brother Michael J. Mazur Jr. (Kappa) serves as Executive Director of Delta Sigma Pi, overseeing the Central Office through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s.
The chapter builds its service and fellowship traditions: Educational Foundation fundraising, an annual Collegiate vs. Alumni softball game with Zeta Lambda, and hosting the 1984 Regional Conference in Atlanta.
Chapter brothers attend Grand Chapter Congress in Dallas (1985) and New Orleans (1987), building the chapter’s national presence ahead of its first national award.
1990s
1990The national awards program launches, giving the chapter a formal stage on which to set a high bar for excellence. Click here to see all of Atlanta’s wins.
1991The chapter wins its first national award — Outstanding Alumni Chapter.
1993$174,000 from the Clyde Kitchens–Thoben Elrod Foundation endows the Regional Collegian of the Year Scholarship and a Georgia State University graduate study grant.
1994The foundation is renamed the Clyde Kitchens–Thoben Elrod Foundation, honoring both men’s service to the chapter.
1994Full sweep — the chapter wins every national award category open at the time: Outstanding Alumni Chapter and Outstanding Service.
1995Julia and Jim Jacobs — son of founder Harold Valentine Jacobs — are honored by the chapter.
1995Full sweep — Outstanding Alumni Chapter and Outstanding Service again.
1996The chapter establishes the Bob Busse Service Award; Van Phan is its first recipient. Click here to see all other recipients.
1997Thoben Elrod passes away at age 82.
1997Brother Bill Borland passes away (1949–1997) and is posthumously honored with the Bob Busse Service Award that same year.
1997Full sweep — Outstanding Alumni Chapter and Outstanding Service, both won again this year.
1998Full sweep — Outstanding Alumni Chapter and Outstanding Service, both won again this year.
This decade: 12 national awards — 6 Outstanding Alumni Chapter, 6 Outstanding Service.
2000s
2003The Bob and Dorothy Busse Scholarship is established with an initial $10,000 gift, honoring the top collegiate brother in Georgia and the Southeastern Region.
2005The Kitchens–Thoben Elrod Foundation dissolves; its remaining $250,000 transfers into today’s Clyde Kitchens/Thoben Elrod Leadership Fund.
2005–09Brother Mitchell B. Simmons serves as Grand President of Delta Sigma Pi.
2009The Mitchell B. Simmons Fund is established to support Fraternity educational activities — scholastics, leadership, ethics, and business skill development.
This decade: 12 national awards — 2 Outstanding Alumni Chapter, 4 Outstanding Service, 6 Outstanding Professional Activities.
2010s
2013Brother Marc Cohen establishes the Anne Pirkle Cohen and Marc Howard Cohen Leadership Fund, supporting Iota Mu (Georgia College) and Eta Xi (Jefferson University, Philadelphia).
2015Brother Bylli Daniels passes away (1967–2015) — the chapter’s Bylli’s Brunch is later named in tribute.
2017Brother Olivia Malice of Zeta Lambda (Georgia Tech) wins the national Mr. & Mrs. Sidney A. Sparks Collegian of the Year Award and serves a two-year term on the Fraternity’s Board of Directors.
2019The chapter hosts Grand Chapter Congress in Atlanta.
This decade: 2 national awards — 1 Outstanding Alumni Chapter, 1 Outstanding Service.
2020s
2023Full sweep — for the first time in chapter history, the chapter wins every national award category: Outstanding Alumni Chapter, Outstanding Collegiate Relations, Outstanding Service, and Outstanding Professional Activities.
2025The Atlanta Alumni Chapter celebrates 100 years of brotherhood, service, and legacy.
This decade so far: 7 national awards — 3 Outstanding Alumni Chapter, 2 Outstanding Service, 1 Outstanding Collegiate Relations, 1 Outstanding Professional Activities.
Here’s to the next 100 years.