Sept. 30, 1943—Sept. 14, 2009

WASHINGTON(AP)—Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary and among the closest and most trusted advisers of President Jimmy Carter, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 65.

Powell, a member of the so-called Georgia Mafia who descended on Washington after Carter was elected president, was stricken at his home near Cambridge on Maryland’s eastern shore, said Jack Nelson, a retired reporter and close friend of Powell.

Nelson said Powell had been working with firewood with a helper who briefly stepped away. Powell was discovered a short time later on the ground. He said Powell had had a previous heart attack in recent years.

Powell, who first worked with Carter during his campaign for governor in Georgia the 1960s, joined Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976 and served as chief White House spokesman from 1977 to 1981.

Carter in a statement called Powell’s death “a great personal loss” and said, “I will miss him dearly.”

“Jody was beside me in every decision I made as a candidate, governor and president and I could always depend on his advice and counsel being candid and direct,” Carter said. He added: “No one worked more closely with me than Jody.”

After leaving the White House, Powell became one of the founders of the Powell Tate public relations firm in Washington.

A Georgia native known for his deep Southern drawl, Powell— along with fellow Georgian Hamilton Jordan—was among Carter’s closest advisers and confidants. A June 1977 issue of Time magazine had caricatures of both Powell and Jordan on its cover, declaring them “the president’s boys.” Jordan died last year after a lengthy battle with cancer.

At one point during his presidency, Carter said, “Jody Powell knows me better than anyone else except my wife.”

Born on a cotton and peanut farm, Powell grew up in Vienna, Ga., and had aspirations to become an Air Force pilot. But he was expelled from the U. S. Air Force Academy during his senior year for cheating and went on to attend Georgia State University and later Emory University, where he received a master’s degree in political science.

Powell and the other Georgians who came with Carter did not always follow tradition when they arrived in Washington in 1977. They were fond of country music concerts and frequently were seen wearing blue jeans and T-shirts as they made the social scene.

After leaving the White House, Powell headed the Washington public relations firm of Ogilvy&Mather, building it from about a dozen people to nearly 100 before leaving to found Powell Tate with Sheila Tate, former press secretary to first lady Nancy Reagan.

Dale Leibach, a longtime friend and business associate since their days in the Carter White House, said the ex-president went to a nursing home where Powell’s mother, June, lives to tell her of her son’s death before she heard it on the news.