Kevin O'Gara

Reserved and quiet, but not reticent. Kevin Francis O’Gara was steadfast, in his beliefs, in his friendships, in his family, in business. Those who knew him were impressed by his kindness and integrity. He was a model to his employees of how to do business, and to his friends and children of how to live.
An Atlanta native, Kevin’s first foray into entrepreneurship was breeding and selling rabbits as a 12 year old in the tony Buckhead area of Atlanta. Once he graduated from Emory University, he started working in the world of office supplies, where he stayed for his career. After a stint in Philadelphia with Acco, he started a manufacturers’ representative group in his hometown of Atlanta in 1963. Kevin may not have been the archetypical salesperson. He was not gregarious. He did not tell many jokes. But he did put everyone he met at ease. He was honest and followed through.  He also knew how to hire good people. The company, KOGCO, went on to become the largest office supply rep group in the Southeast.
His increasing success did not change him. He stayed in the same house he and his wife bought in 1963 until a couple years after his first wife died in 1996. He loved the house on the small lake in a modest cul-de-sac, though he did not mind a trip or two abroad per year. His few concessions to his increasing success included a taste for fine wine and paintings. He had a life-long love of golf, duck hunting and fishing.
His favorite holiday was Thanksgiving, surrounded by his children, and their families. He had three sons and a daughter, Kevin, Jr., Robert, Tim, and Nancy. Tim, his youngest, predeceased him by three years. His daughters- and son-in-law are Devon O’Dell O’Gara, married to Robert, Nancy Davis O’Gara, Tim’s widow, and Nancy’s husband, Anthony Nievera. Kevin had eleven grandchildren, plus two step-grandchildren, making for a full house on the holidays.
Kevin’s integrity and values carried over into his marriages. It was only a couple of years after his wife of 37 years and mother of his children, Susan Pegram O’Gara, died, that he married Kathleen “Candy” Sheehan. Devoted to each other for 20 years, Candy took amazing care of Kevin in his last couple of years of decline, the same loving care he had shown his first wife in her final days.
Before cancer and complications from age overcame him on the afternoon of March 11, 2018, and before he had stopped recognizing all but his wife Candy, he would, aware of the dementia that was taking over, say, “I’ve had a good life, a very good life”. He was 82.
The funeral will be at 10:00am on Saturday, March 24 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 4465 Northside Dr., Atlanta, Georgia 30327.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to: Community Hospice & Palliative Care, 4266 Sunbeam Road Jacksonville, Fl 32257.