Harry G. Dulaney Jr.

Harry G. Dulaney Jr., Physics Professor and Lifelong Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, Was Called Home on Wednesday, August 16, 2023.

Harry was born on Dec 3, 1932 in Lexington KY to Harry G. Dulaney Sr., a travelling medical supply salesman, and Inez Congleton Dulaney, a school teacher. Blessed with a photographic memory, he graduated as Valedictorian from Henry Clay High School in Lexington with “almost perfect” attendance. Since he was humble and embarrassed to be “perfect,” he actually played hooky from class once in a deliberate attempt to avoid perfect attendance. He moved to Atlanta GA in 1951, starting at Georgia Tech as a freshman physics major, and in 1955 he received his BS in Physics with highest honor. 1955 was a very big year for Harry as he also married Charlene Barrett in September. He received his PhD in Physics at Georgia Tech in 1961 and decided to dedicate his career to higher education. From 1961 to 1990 he served as a Physics Professor at Georgia Tech until retirement, leading the Self-Paced Physics program in the later years, educating and inspiring thousands of future scientists and engineers. It was during this period that Harry dealt with the tragedy of losing Charlene to cancer in 1977. A few years later however, Harry found happiness again when he married Anna Hale in 1980. 

Family, friends, and colleagues of Harry describe him as kind, very generous, gentle, funny, and brilliantly intelligent. Harry’s life-long friend and fellow Georgia Tech alum Bill Collins recalls how much he enjoyed Harry’s friendship over the years, especially playing basketball and taking road trips during the early college days. More recently,Harry enjoyed joining Bill in his box at Georgia Tech home football games.   

Harry’s reluctance to be the center of attention sometimes led to awkward and humorous situations. He delayed the oral defense of his PhD dissertation to the physics department committee for a long time, which was a required final step to receive the PhD degree. Finally, the administration was led to set up a “surprise meeting” of the committee where they were convened and Harry was led to their room unaware of the true purpose of the meeting. When he arrived and was told what was happening, he became extremely nervous and could hardly speak. After several minutes, though, he was able to calm down and proceeded to deliver what may be the longest and most thorough PhD dissertation defense anywhere ever. When he would tell this story, he would finish it by saying: “I realized that I had them captive and decided that I was going to make it as uncomfortable for them as possible in return for playing a trick on me.” 

Harry is survived by his wife of 43 years, from 1980 – 2023, Anna Hale Dulaney of Marietta, GA; sister, Virginia (Ginny) Dulaney Berg of Chapel Hill, NC; three children - Harry (Lane) G. Dulaney III of Arlington Heights, IL, David H Dulaney of Atlanta, GA, and Julie Dulaney Carson of Johns Creek, GA; six grandchildren – Brandon Scott of Athens, GA, Harry G. Dulaney IV of Tucker, GA, Beth Dulaney Previn of Frederick, MD, Desmond Dulaney of Atlanta, GA, Jack Carson of Winston-Salem, NC, and Sydney Dulaney of East Lansing, MI; two great grandchildren – Diana Scott and Samantha Scott of Athens, GA 

Harry was preceded in death by his wife of 22 years, from 1955 – 1977, Charlene Barrett Dulaney; father, Harry G. Dulaney Sr. – 1984; mother, Inez Congleton Dulaney – 1999 and brother, William Dulaney – 2019

Ingram Funeral Home, 210 Ingram Ave, Cumming, GA is in charge of arrangements.