ATLANTA — Deborah Anne Aziz died April 24, 2021. She was 51.
A native of Harrisonville, New Jersey, she was born November 2, 1969, the daughter of Edward Richard Aziz, Jr. and Deborah C. Aziz (nee Carter).
Deborah — “Debbie Anne” to her family and “Deb” to her friends — graduated from Kingsway High School in 1988 and graduated with honors and a degree in history from Franklin and Marshall College in 1992.
She would later go on to earn degrees in accountancy from South Georgia Technical College (2005) and paralegal from Clayton State University (2008).
She was a lifelong fan of Philadelphia sports teams, including the Phillies, the Flyers, and the Eagles. Her friends were well familiar with her habit of trash-talking any team facing a Philly team, though she reserved a special enmity for the Braves. She was known to rewatch the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII victory.
Deb was an authentic person, who wasn’t ashamed to be herself.
She had a storied career that included 21 years with Habitat for Humanity International, as well as stints with the EEOC and the FAA. Most recently, Deb spent the last five years with SunTrust/Truist Financial.
She moved to Americus, Georgia, in 1995 to work for Habitat for Humanity International. In 2006, when Habitat established a second headquarters in Atlanta, Deb relocated to the city of East Point and continued to work there until 2016.
She was very involved with the city and was dedicated to volunteer work.
As an active resident, Deb served as a commissioner on the East Point Housing Authority, as well as a long-time member and supporter of the East Point Main Street Association. She served on the city’s Parks and Recreation board and the Ethics board.
She also served on the board for the East Point Historical Society as an Advisor of Special Projects and volunteered at Hillcrest Cemetery.
She was the admin for the Facebook group East Point Vent, where people could go and complain about anything they wanted. The only real rule in that group was that if you could dish it, you also needed to take it. It was where people’s true colors could show, and she took people at face value for it.
Additionally, Deb proudly served as a volunteer for Oakland Cemetery for over 15 years; she often referred to Oakland as her “happy place.”
For friends, she would be there in a heartbeat when needed. She gave great advice and was always up for trying new things.
She enjoyed a variety of “geeky” pastimes, including comics, card and board games, trivia, science fiction and fantasy books and movies, and role-playing games.
Deb was an ace at trivia and played for many years in the Team Trivia League with the team Empirical Evidence of Awesomeness. She was especially great at history, music, and sports categories, and she was always a fun and reliable teammate.
A former college DJ, Deb had a near-encyclopedic recall of popular music. She was also an enthusiastic fan of musical theatre. During her years in Americus, she was a member of the Sumter Players and worked sound and lights for several local productions.
She was a consummate game-player, particularly devoted to Euchre, Oh Hell!, and Settlers of Catan. She was known for many in-jokes and running gags, some of which are not suitable for print, but all of which were beloved by her fellow players.
The game table will not be the same without her.
Life will not be the same without her.
She is survived by her loving partner, Nancy Cook of East Point; her parents, E. Richard Aziz, Jr. and Debbie Aziz of Camden, Delaware; a sister and brother-in-law, Liz O’Keefe and Tom O’Keefe of Berlin, New Jersey; and a bevy of dedicated friends.
A Celebration of the Life of Deb Aziz will be held at 3 p.m. June 5 at her home.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her name to The Arthritis Foundation.
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