Mr. Cousins, along with former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders, purchased and moved the Hawks from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1968, affirming Atlanta as a major metropolitan sports city and hub for the southeast. He was also a transformative leader in the community, whose many projects included the revitalization of Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood.

In 1995, Tom Cousins founded the East Lake Foundation and bought East Lake Golf Club, the home course of Bobby Jones, which had fallen on hard times.