Former Smyrna Mayor Bob Spivey Dies

SMYRNA, TN — Bob Spivey, Smyrna's mayor between 2001 and 2009, died Wednesday night.

Spivey was 81.

"It was a great team effort to serve on the Town Council with Mayor Spivey,"' said current Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed said in a statement Thursday. “He was instrumental in helping with Smyrna’s growth, especially in business development along Sam Ridley Parkway.”

It was during Spivey's tenure that the city's first major retail development, Colonial Town Park Shopping Center, opened. The development includes SuperTarget, Kohl’s and Kirklands.

Spivey founded Imperial Foods in 1971, which was the first tenant of the industrial park that opened on the site of the former Sewart Air Force Base in Smyrna. After selling the business in 1988, he turned to on commercial and residential development.

He was a shopping center developer, himself developing properties at the Sam Ridley Parkway intersection of Interstate 24.

He was first elected as mayor in 2001 and was re-elected unopposed in 2005. His second term was up in November 2009, but Spivey resigned four months early due to illness.

Spivey was largely responsible for raising early funds for the Smyrna campus of Motlow State Community College.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Woodfin Chapel in Smyrna. The funeral will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Christian Church on Lee Victory Parkway in Smyrna, followed by a burial at 10 a.m. Monday at Roselawn Cemetery in Murfreesboro. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County and Trinity Christian Church.