Civic leader Nelson Andrews passes

Comes this morning the news of the passing at age 82 of Nelson Andrews, after a lengthy illness. He was founder of Leadership Nashville, a Vanderbilt and Medical Center emeritus trustee, chairman of Brookside Properties and the impetus for a myriad of resolute and progressive civic initiatives. NashvillePost.com and The Tennessean have the early word. Andrews wrote six years ago for Nashville Post, sharing his views of the sources of power and the varieties of leadership. A year later, BusinessTn reported his views on the paramount importance of ensuring that teachers graduating from the state's colleges of education enter the classroom truly prepared to teach their wards to read. Nelson was well known for having formed in his youth a "hillbilly" band, The Tennessee Dew Drops. Asked about that musical venture by a member of Leadership Nashville Class of 1993, Nelson responded with typical humor. He had, he said, simply "played for my own amazement." Thus far today, no media report has mentioned Nelson Andrews' own periodic business challenges in the cyclical real-estate field. Whatever the details, the most important thing about it will almost surely be the good faith which which he reputedly dealt with customers, employees and debtors, through such tribulations. In a tribute posted earlier today, Lipscomb University President L. Randolph Lowry reflects on the Hero he says Nashville has lost. Nelson Andrews' funeral service is to be Monday, June 15.