City proclamation to honor Chester Mallory ahead of funeral

Funeral details have been announced for Chester Mallory, and the city plans to issue a proclamation honoring the longtime Montgomery civic leader.

The former Alabama State University educator and owner of Mallory Realty died Dec. 17 at age 82. No cause of death was released, but friends and colleagues said he had faced health issues in recent years while continuing to serve on a wide range of city boards and in other leadership positions.

A visitation will be held for Mallory on Dec. 28 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the E.G. Cummings Memorial Funeral Home chapel. Mallory's funeral will be Dec. 29 at 11 a.m. at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church, 455 Fred Gray Ave., in Montgomery. The Rev. Keenan Winters will officiate. His burial will follow at Eastwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery with the staff of E.G. Cummings Memorial Funeral Home directing.

Meanwhile, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed's office has announced plans to honor Mallory's decades of service to the community with a proclamation.

A draft of the proclamation notes his 50 years in real estate, his work as an educator, and his service to help lead the Montgomery Airport Authority, the Montgomery City-County Public Library, the Gift of Life Foundation, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA, the Montgomery Ballet and other organizations. It also notes that his focus throughout that journey was always on inspiring and encouraging those around him.

"The City of Montgomery wishes to commemorate the life of Chester Mallory ... a shining example of a person who demonstrated how much he cared for his community by his continuous efforts to improve it," the proclamation states, in part.

Brad Harper covers business and local government for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: City proclamation to honor Chester Mallory ahead of funeral