William Eugene "Bill" Blasingame, Sr. August 7, 1924 — February 25, 2024

In Tribute

William Eugene "Bill" Blasingame, Sr.

August 7, 1924 — February 25, 2024

Entomologist  •  Regulator  •  Mentor  •  Industry Icon

GRIFFIN, Ga. — Blasingame Pest Management is honoring the life and legacy of its founder and technical advisor, William Eugene "Bill" Blasingame Sr., who passed away February 25, 2024, at age 99. A 2011 inductee into the Pest Management Professional Hall of Fame and past president of both the Georgia Pest Control Association (1967) and the National Pest Management Association (1972), Blasingame spent 74 years shaping the structural pest control industry — first as the state regulator who wrote Georgia's founding pest control law, then as a trainer who taught more than 10,000 pest management professionals nationwide.

For 74 years, Bill Blasingame Sr. shaped the pest management industry in Georgia and across the nation — not as a single achievement, but as a lifetime of quiet, steady service. He wrote the law that professionalized an industry, chaired the commission that enforced it, and then spent the rest of his career teaching the very people who carried that profession forward. Colleagues remember him less for any single title and more for how he made everyone around him better at what they did.

Early Life & Education

Bill was born August 7, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Robert Powell and Annie Lillian Ross Blasingame. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, working in the medical field in the Pacific theater. Afterward, on the GI Bill, he enrolled at Emory University intending to study medicine, but a change of heart brought him to the University of Georgia, where an elective course in entomology — taught by his mentor, Dr. Horace Lund — set the course for the rest of his life. He graduated in 1950 with a B.S. in Entomology.

A Career Built on Service

1950  Joined the Georgia Department of Entomology as Assistant State Entomologist, immediately after graduating from UGA.

1955  Appointed Georgia State Entomologist. Helped draft and pass the Georgia Structural Pest Control Act, and became the first Chairman of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Commission — establishing licensing standards that professionalized the industry and pushed unregulated operators out of the business.

1964  Left state service to join Getz Exterminators / Getz Services, one of the South's oldest pest control companies, as Vice President and Technical Director.

1967  Elected President of the Georgia Pest Control Association.

1972  Elected President of the National Pest Control Association (today the National Pest Management Association).

1974  Became Director of Stephenson Services, a division of Stephenson Chemical Company, where he spent the next 15 years training pest management professionals from across the United States.

1989  Left Stephenson to launch his own independent training and consulting practice, continuing to teach well into his later years.

2012  Joined his son Billy and daughter-in-law Shayne as Entomologist and Technical Advisor at the newly founded Blasingame Pest Management.

Leadership & Honors

Over the course of his career, Bill served as President or Chairman of:

•     National Pest Management Association

•     Georgia Pest Control Association (President, 1967)

•     Georgia Entomological Society

•     Georgia Council of Entomology

•     Georgia Plant Pathology Association

•     Southern Plant Board

•     Pi Chi Omega

He was also an organizer of the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials, serving one term as chairman. His industry honors include:

•     Inducted into the Pest Management Professional (PMP) Hall of Fame, Class of 2011

•     Inducted into the Georgia Pest Control Association Hall of Fame

•     Named one of the "80 Most Influential People in the Pest Control Industry of All Time"

A Teacher at Heart

Across his career, Bill trained more than 10,000 pest management professionals — a legacy that colleagues say may be his most lasting contribution to the industry. He had a gift for making technical material feel approachable, and for treating every student, from new technicians to Ph.D. entomologists, as worth his full attention.

"There's nothing he didn't know about insects, insecticides, sprayer equipment… I credit Bill for giving me my start."

— Rick Bell, Arrow Exterminators

"Bill was in the business when it started to become a 'professional' business... he was a pioneer."

— Rufus "Bubba" Tindol, Allgood Pest Solutions

"Bill has been so involved in moving the industry forward. He is well-known nationally for setting up what we needed in Georgia."

— Valera Jessee, former Executive Director, GPCA

Family & Legacy

Bill was married to Sarah Ruth Baccus Blasingame for 69 years, until her passing in 2016. He is remembered by his children, Sally Burns and Billy Blasingame; his grandchildren; and his great-grandchildren. His legacy carries on through Blasingame Pest Management, the family-owned company founded in 2012 by his son Billy and daughter-in-law Shayne — now a three-generation family business, with grandson Dylan Blasingame continuing the tradition as President.

Bill Blasingame Sr. didn't just build a career in pest management. He helped build the profession itself — and then spent the rest of his life making sure it was in good hands.