For the past 27 years, Dick Yarbrough has gained a large following with his syndicated newspaper column which reaches some 600,000 households and more than 1.3 million readers each week throughout Georgia. The Georgia Press Association has recognized his column on numerous occasions as “Most Humorous.” Some politicians don’t find him that funny.
Before becoming a syndicated columnist, Yarbrough labored for over 40 years on the corporate side of the fence. He retired from BellSouth Corporation as vice president in 1993 and then joined the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as managing director, reporting directly to CEO Billy Payne. During his career Yarbrough has received many honors. PR WEEK, an industry publication, named him one of The 100 Most Influential Public Relations Practitioners of the 20th Century. Georgia Trend magazine twice identified him as one of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential People in the State of Georgia. The Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America elected him to the Order of the Phoenix, their highest award, and to membership in their Hall of Fame.
A 1959 graduate of the University of Georgia, Dick Yarbrough is past president of the National Alumni Association and received their highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award. The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia has named him their Outstanding Graduate. He was also named a Fellow of the College where he has established the C. Richard Yarbrough professorship in Crisis Communications Leadership, the first of its kind in the nation.
When not skewering politicians and twitting the humorless, Dick Yarbrough devotes his spare time to his growing reputation as an artist, with paintings hanging at the Georgia State Capitol, the College of Coastal Georgia and in private collections.