Legacy Leader

An educator, historian, and community leader, Paul Pressly has made an impact on the cultural and civic life of Savannah, building bridges between people, schools, and communities. 

He holds a B.A. in history from Princeton University, a M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a D.Phil. in history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

As an educator, he headed the Savannah Country Day School, created the Horizons program that touches the lives of over three hundred public school students each summer, and was active in shaping policy for independent schools on a national level. He served as chairman of the Board of the National Association of Independent Schools, as President-General of the Cum Laude Society, and as chairman of the SAT Committee for College Board. In Savannah, he served as head of the private school council and now serves as chairman of the Board of Governors of Bethesda Academy and as a member of the boards of Horizons and Elevate, a program that places mentors in public schools. 

An environmentalist, he served as director of the Ossabaw Island Education Alliance, a partnership between the Georgia Board of Regents, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Ossabaw Island Foundation. In carrying out the legacy of its original owner, Sandy West, the Alliance opened up Ossabaw, with its 26,000 acres and multiple ecosystems of unparallel beauty, to students, researchers, and groups with an educational purpose.

While director, he authored two books on the history of early Georgia (On the
Rim of the Caribbean and Black Georgians and Spanish Florida), edited a volume on the environmental history of our coast (Coastal Nature, Coastal Culture), and produced a fourth volume on African American Life and Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry. The University of Georgia Press published these books devoted to the idea that the Georgia coast is as much a product of the human footprint as of the natural environment. 

As community leader, Pressly has worked to build connections between public and private schools, several non-profits, and the many ethnic groups within a city and a coast rich in a heritage that is often overlooked. He served as chairman of Senior Citizens Inc (Meals on Wheels), the Sarah Mills Hodge Foundation, president of the Rotary Club of Savannah, and on the boards of Georgia Historical Society, Armstrong State University Foundation, Telfair Museum, Davenport House, Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, Historic Savannah Foundation, American Red Cross – Savannah Chapter, Savannah Arts Commission, and others. He received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities in 2009; the Sarah Nichols Pinckney Volunteer Award, Georgia Historical Society; and the Beach Institute Education Award, King Tisdale Cottage Foundation.

He is married to Jane Pressly, former curator of the Green-Meldrim House and his great support throughout the trials and tribulations of his research.