Joseph M. Farley ’49

Joe Farley died May 24, 2010, from complications relating to an epidural injection for back pain.  

A Birmingham, Ala., native, Joe was president of Alabama Power from 1969 until 1989, when he took the reins of Southern Co.’s nuclear operations. The Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Electric Generating Plant near Dothan, Ala., was named in his honor.

In 1978, Joe’s wife, Sheila, died and Joe became a single parent to three children. “He was first and foremost a family man. He just adored his family,” said his son, Joe Jr. ’85.

Joe attended Birmingham-Southern College and earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton. He attended graduate school at the University

of Alabama’s College of Commerce and Business Administration and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School.

After his retirement from Southern Co. in 1992, Joe practiced law at Balch & Bingham. In 1994, he was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. In 2001, President George W. Bush tapped Joe for his transition team on energy issues.  

Joe served on the boards of Alabama Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Southern Research Institute.

In addition to Joe Jr., he is survived by his son, Tom, and daughter Mary Lynne. We extend our sincere sympathies to them.