Peter Roe Nugent

Nugent was born to a prominent Catholic family in Savannah in 1893, the son of Nellie Roe and Thomas Nugent.^[1] His father was an immigrant from Australia and his mother a Savannah native.^[1] He graduated from the Benedictine Military School and Georgia Institute of Technology.^[1] In 1915, he and his father started a bakery of which he became the proprietor.^[1] His sister, Helen Roe Nugent, served as president of the Savannah-Atlanta Diocesan Council of the National Council of Catholic Women.^[1] In 1937, he was elected to the City Council of Savannah.^[1] On November 4, 1942, he was named vice-chairman of the City Council after Harry B. Grimshaw was named chairman; and on January 22, 1945, he was named chairman.^[2] On July 25, 1945, he was elected mayor by the City Council upon the untimely death of mayor Thomas Gamble.^[1][2][3]

While in office, Nugent was dedicated to developing the paper industry in the region,^[4] lead a campaign to test all 125,000 residents of the county for tuberculosis and syphilis in order to treat and eradicate the diseases,^[5][6] presided over a state visit by Winston Churchill,^[7] conducted a major cleanup of the city^[8][9] after criticism from Lady Nancy Astor that Savannah was "like a beautiful woman with a dirty face"^[10][11] (she later apologized),^[12] and secured the establishment of a Savannah branch for Georgia State University (to serve freshman and sophomores).^[13]

He declined to enter the race for mayor after the end of his term on January 27, 1947.^[14] The Democrat nominee for mayor was Democrat John G. Kennedy, of the Citizen's Progressive League which had been in opposition to his administration.^[15] Kennedy was the only candidate on the ballot in the general election although he accused unnamed members of the outgoing Nugant administration of illegally inserting 15–20,000 stick-in ballots for pasting on the general ballot.^[16] Kennedy won in a landslide and the entire City Council was replaced.^[17] From 1949 to 1955, he again served as chairman of the City Council during the administration of mayor Olin F. Fulmer^[2] and helped to facilitate the exchange of Savannah-owned Hunter Field for the Chatham Air Force Base.^[18] In 1949, he was appointed by Governor Herman Talmadge to the 3-member Georgia Ports Authority^[19] and was soon after named vice-chairman.^[20] In 1950, Nugent helped to secure a $4,500,000 loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for Port of Savannah expansion.^[21] He resigned from the Port Authority in 1955.^[22][23]

Nugent was a former president of the Hibernian Society,^[24] the Chamber of Commerce, the Southern Baker's Association, and the Chatham County Board of Education.^[1]

Lynch married Mary Louise Lynch of Savannah; they had four children: Mrs. J H. Clancy Jr., John Nugent, Thomas Nugent, and Mary Roe Nugent.^[1]