Kiepper, 81, Built MARTA Rail Transit System

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – The man who built MARTA's rail system thirty years ago passed away last week. Alan Kiepper led MARTA from 1972 to 1982, and is remembered for how effectively he directed a mammoth project.

WABE's Odette Yousef reports.

Kiepper was brought in shortly after Georgia state legislators approved the sales tax arrangement that primarily funds MARTA. Former MARTA board member and ambassador to the Bahamas William Schwartz says Kiepper was a guiding light:

SCHWARTZ: Alan was a good executive, and he directed the planning stages through the engineers, worked with the board. It was a tremendously complicated process.

Kiepper was brought in under the administration of former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell who says under Kiepper's eye, MARTA became the envy of other cities.

After leaving MARTA, Kiepper led Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, and then the MTA New York City Transit. He died last week in Annapolis, MD, at the age of 81.

Odette Yousef, WABE News.