From Marty Williamson,

The out-of-home industry has lost one of its true legends. Richard Austin “Dick” Estus of Savannah, Georgia — known to his family as “Popie” — passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family, on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at the age of 92.

Born September 23, 1933, in Binghamton, New York, Estus built a career in outdoor advertising spanning more than six decades. After graduating from Bucknell University and completing six months of military service, he went to work for General Outdoor Advertising, moving through Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Utica before landing in Richmond, Virginia — where he met Suzanne “Sue” Anderson, who would become his wife of 63 years. When the Turner family’s outdoor advertising business came to Richmond, Estus found himself working first for Ted Turner’s father, and later for a then-24-year-old Ted Turner himself, eventually spending 15 years with the company in Atlanta.

In 1971, a job offer brought Estus to Savannah to manage a local billboard company. Within a few years he’d bought it outright, renaming it Estus Outdoor, and went on to build, sell, and rebuild the company more than once over the decades that followed — developing hundreds of locations across the Savannah market. He was the first small-plant operator ever chosen to chair the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Even well into his 80s he remained hands-on, converting his first billboard to digital in 2018 as Formetco’s 300th independent digital customer nationwide. In 2019, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia honored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his decades of leadership and impact on the industry.

“Dick Estus was one of the true gentlemen of the OOH industry,” said Nancy Fletcher, who served as President and CEO of OAAA from 1991 to 2019. “He was an exceptional businessman, a thoughtful OAAA Chairman, and a passionate advocate for OOH. He will be remembered with great admiration and gratitude.”

Estus closed out his final chapter in the business with the 2021 sale of his remaining Interstate 16 assets in Savannah— a transaction handled by Williamson & Associates.

“Dick Estus was one of the legends in this industry,” said Marty Williamson, President of Williamson & Associates, who worked alongside Estus on a few projects in Savannah and later brokered the sale that closed out Estus’s decades in the business. “He was well known, well liked, and deeply respected by everyone who crossed his path. I had the privilege of calling him both a colleague and a friend, and a mentor to me personally. There won’t be another like him.”

Estus’s impact reached well beyond billboards. As chairman of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, he helped bring Home Depot’s distribution operations to Savannah, opening the door to the port growth that followed. He was founding chairman of the First City Club, built from day one to welcome everyone at a time when not every club in Savannah could say the same. He also led the United Way of Savannah and served as a board member of Savannah Technical College. His civic leadership earned him induction into the Junior Achievement–sponsored Tourism Hall of Fame and the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s Oglethorpe Leadership Award — an honor given to fewer than 40 people in over two centuries.

But those who knew him best say what Dick invested in most was his family. He was preceded in death by Sue, his wife of 63 years, and is survived by his brother, Peter Estus; his three daughters, Julie Estus Kehoe, Sally Estus Payne, and Kent Estus Buttimer; and a large extended family of grandchildren. Those who knew him remember a man who kept a sunny outlook regardless of what came his way, who never thought a crowd could be too big, and who had a gift for making whoever he was with feel like the most important person in the room.

A funeral service will be held at Isle of Hope United Methodist Church at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 7, 2026. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that memorial donations be made to Hospice of Savannah, United Way of Savannah, St. Joseph’s/Candler Foundations, or the Humane Society of Savannah in honor of his dog, Wakefield.

Estus is remembered by colleagues across the OOH industry as a builder, a mentor, and a gentleman — someone who spent a lifetime shaping the city he loved, on billboards and off.