At dawn, Bonneau Ansley Jr. would trek to a trailer in Cherokee County and zip around in a golf cart with potential homebuyers.
Ansley Jr. had a sharp eye for real estate and an undeniable charisma, and with his business partner Tom Bradbury, he would build and sell thousands of homes across metro Atlanta.
“It was almost like he was electric,” said Bradbury, who today is founder and executive chairman of Woodstock-based home builder Smith Douglas Homes. “He could take a shy couple, and after spending 30 minutes with them, they would think that Bonneau was their best friend. He personified an air of trust, and it was genuine.”
Ansley Jr. died Wednesday of natural causes, his family told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was 83.
The Buckhead native was co-founder of Colony Homes, a company he started with Bradbury in 1975 and ran for more than 20 years. Colony Homes, at its peak, built around 2,000 homes per year, mostly in the metro Atlanta suburbs and into North Carolina, according to the family.
Those construction trailers would become an important training ground for his son, Bonneau Ansley III, a top Atlanta luxury real estate agent.
“He taught me how to sell,” said Ansley III, founder and chairman of Ansley Real Estate Christie’s International.
He recalled one of his father’s most valuable lessons: “The conversations you have 90 days prior are your business today. Always keep talking. Always meet everybody you can and keep the conversation going.”
Friends and family described Ansley Jr. as brilliant, trustworthy and hardworking, with a knack for finding humor in situations.
“He was a serious character, one of the funniest guys you have ever met in your life,” said longtime friend Jim Nalley, a prominent Atlanta auto dealer and former CEO of Asbury Automotive Group.
“He would come up with some of the most funny, off-the-wall things that you can imagine — just have us rolling on the ground laughing,” Nalley said. “He always had a quip ready.”
Lifelong friend Jimmy Alston went to grade school and college with Ansley Jr. and later worked with him.
“He’s one of the smartest people that I dealt with ever,” said Alston, who ran building materials company JGA Corp. “He was quicker, funnier. … He was a genius in so many ways.”
Ansley Jr. was born at Piedmont Hospital in 1942. He hailed from a family with deep roots in Atlanta and its business community. One of his relatives, Edwin P. Ansley, was the original developer of the tony Ansley Park neighborhood.
“From a business standpoint, he helped Atlanta grow,” Ansley III said of his father. “And that’s been the family’s motto with Atlanta going back many, many generations.”
Ansley Jr. grew up on Andrews Drive in Buckhead and attended Westminster Schools, where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball. He was also a skilled tennis player who trained at Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and won tournaments throughout the state.
He completed basic training for the U.S. Marine Corps at Parris Island and advanced infantry training at Camp Lejeune.
In 1964, he graduated with honors from the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and played on the tennis team. Later, he would endow a tennis scholarship at UGA.
Ansley Jr. earned a law degree from Emory University and would practice law for some time before turning to real estate. At Colony Homes, Ansley Jr. identified land opportunities and handled sales and marketing. Bradbury built the homes.
“He was the best land person in Atlanta,” Bradbury said. “He really did know where to be before it was the time to be there.”
Many homes the company built were priced for entry-level buyers, according to past AJC stories.
“He used to always tell us he could get somebody a house for $99,000, and he just loved to think of people being able to afford a home,” said his daughter, Fayne Ansley, a botanical artist. “It was really just a total passion of his.”
Bradbury said Colony Homes excelled because of its quick build times. At one point, the company’s cycle time was 46 days, he said.
“We looked at building houses just like an assembly line at General Motors,” Bradbury said.
Ansley Jr. exited the business when he feared it was growing too fast, said Bradbury, who bought him out at the time. Colony Homes would later be sold to KB Home in 2003, giving that home builder entry into the Atlanta market.
“I didn’t realize how bad I missed him until he was gone and I had to try to fill those shoes,” Bradbury said. “I never could fill those shoes. They’re just too big for me.”
Ansley Jr. was a devoted family man, married to his wife, Sharon, for 54 years. He enjoyed time on Sea Island, where the family had homes for generations, and was an avid golfer.
“I can’t think of Bonneau without smiling,” said Nalley, often his companion on Sea Island and the golf course. “It’s impossible.”
Ansley Jr. also was a lifelong Georgia Bulldogs fan, proud to see the team win three National Championships in his lifetime.
“He barely missed a Saturday,” said his daughter, Fayne. “We had so much fun as kids packing up the station wagon and driving up to Athens for the home games, and he had seats right on the 50 (yard line).”
Ansley Jr. is survived by his wife, Sharon, daughter Fayne, son Bonneau III, daughter-in-law Jennifer, grandchildren Blakely and Bonneau IV and numerous cousins.
A funeral is set for Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. at Passion City Church, followed by a reception at the church. The family says memorial contributions can be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
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