Dr. David Bridges has been the personification of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College for nearly two decades.

Teresa MacCartney, then-acting University System of Georgia acting chancellor, put it well last fall. 

“As the longest-serving president among our 26 institutions and ever in the history of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, President David Bridges for the past 16 years has been a leading voice for rural Georgia and its students,” she said. “An ABAC graduate himself, he skillfully guided the college through the addition of bachelor’s degrees, consolidation with the former Bainbridge State College and record growth in enrollment.

“Before that, he spent two decades as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Georgia. The son of a farmer and a teacher, he never strayed far from his roots. The University System of Georgia is better for it and we’re incredibly grateful for his service to our students and state.”

Earlier this month, Tifton, Tift County, South Georgia and state officials gathered to pay tribute to Bridges as he prepares for his coming retirement.

He originally set last Dec. 31 as his retirement date but offered to stay until a new president is found. The search is underway.

A native of Parrott, Bridges is the only ABAC president to have once been an ABAC student, receiving his ABAC associate degree in 1978 before completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Auburn University and his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, according to a biography provided by ABAC.

Prior to becoming the 10th president in the history of ABAC on July 1, 2006, Bridges was the assistant dean of the Tifton campus of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He joined the UGA faculty in 1987 as an assistant professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.

Bridges will “retire as one of the most accomplished presidents in the 113-year history of ABAC,” college officials said. “After offering only associate degrees for 75 years, the college began offering bachelor’s degrees under Bridges’ leadership in 2008.”

ABAC offers 12 different bachelor’s degrees with an enrollment that reaches toward 4,000 students from 155 of Georgia’s 159 counties, 52 of Florida’s 67 counties, 19 countries and 18 states.

Dr. David Bridges has been a boon to ABAC and the entire Tifton-Tift County area. South Georgia has been blessed to count him as a member and we wish him well in his future endeavors.