HATTIESBURG — Former Hattiesburg mayor and businessman Bobby Lee Chain has died. He was 84.
His wife, Betty Chain, says he died of cancer about 5:15 a.m. Saturday at Forrest General Hospital.
He was mayor from 1980 to 1986. The city’s airport is named for him.
Chain’s website says he started the Chain Electric Co. in 1955 and built it into a multi-state commercial, industrial, and utility contractor. He also was chairman and CEO of an exploration and petroleum investment firm.
Chain was named to the National Advisory Council for Small Business Administration in 1964. He served from 1972 to 1984 on both the Mississippi Research and Development Foundation and Mississippi’s higher education board of trustees.
He is survived by his wife and their four children, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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