Bobby Fant ‘set the bar as an elected official’

Retired Marshall County Tax Assessor and Collector Bobby Fant died Saturday at home following a prolonged fight with cancer.

Services were held Monday at 2 p.m. at Holly Springs Funeral Home where a host of friends, family members and co-workers celebrated their love for him and his contributions to the county over six terms in office.

Fant would have been 79 on December 16.

He took office in 1980 and served through 2003.

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors split the office into two positions, assessor and collector, when Fant retired.

Tax collector Betty Byrd, who worked with Fant, wrote, “The Marshall County tax collector’s office is deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved leader and dear friend W.R. ‘Bobby’ Fant. He hired many of us here today. He set the bar as an elected official, friend, and true Southern gentleman.

“It has been an honor to work for him and I am blessed beyond degree to have had him set such an exceptional standard for this office. But most of all, not only was he a dear friend, he was family. Marshall County has truly lost one of its finest.”

Fant was an avid duck hunter and fisherman, she said.

He was the former owner of the Sports Corral in Holly Springs.

“Before that, he had the John Deere tractor dealership,” Byrd said.

She still falls back on Fant’s leadership.

“I still to this day, when I have a big decision pertaining to this office, I ask myself, what would Mr. Fant do,” Byrd said.

Other than her parents, she said Fant was the “biggest influence on my life.”

Fant served in the National Guard.

He graduated from Holly Springs High School.

For Fant’s obituary, click here.