ATLANTA — Jeffrey Parker, CEO of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, died Friday night. He was 56.
Parker died by suicide, the agency said, when he was struck by a train at MARTA’s East Lake Station.
“The MARTA Board of Directors grieves the shocking death of our GM/CEO Jeff Parker who has died by suicide. He was an outstanding leader and steward of MARTA whose passing leaves us all heartbroken,” Rita Scott, chairwoman of the MARTA Board of Directors, said in a statement on the agency’s website.
“As Chairwoman and on behalf of my fellow MARTA board members, we are devastated at this loss as we valued Jeff’s leadership and looked forward to him bringing his vision for transit to fruition. The entire metro Atlanta region owes him a debt of gratitude for his transformational efforts and we will not stop working to build on the foundation he created.”
In a special meeting Saturday, the board named Collie Greenwood as interim general manager and CEO. Greenwood, former chief service officer with the Toronto Transit Comission, joined MARTA in 2019 as head of bus operations and was promoted to deputy general manager of operations in January 2021.
Parker joined MARTA in 2018 from an engineering and consulting firm. He had previously spent 20 years at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, had served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and was previously with MARTA from 2005 to 2008 as senior director of transportation operations.
Well said, Gary. Hard to believe someone would elect to “go” like this. Very sad.
Not only is this sad but it is very sad for the train crew that was involved. My thoughts and prayers are with them; I’m a retired conductor and was involved with 11 fatalities. No good memories there.