Bart B.T. Bryson

Bart ëB.T.í Bryson, 78, of Hendersonville, N.C., died Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at Pardee Memorial Hospital.

Born in Ashton, Idaho, he grew up in Cullowhee, N.C., and was the son of the late Bascom T. Bryson and Ollie Gunter Bryson. He was preceded in death by one brother, Hugh Bryson, and two sisters, Julia Bumgarner and Eunice Hensley.

After graduating from Cullowhee High School, he served in the Army during the Korean War. He graduated from Western Carolina University receiving his B.S. degree in Business Administration. He began working for the Department of Transportation in the Right-of-Way Department in Sylva, N.C., and became a senior member of the American Right Away Association. Bart helped open the first appraisal office in Western North Carolina in Asheville and served as a district review appraiser for the DOT.

He got his SRA and MAI designations doing post graduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of Florida. He got his North Carolina and South Carolina Brokers Real Estate licenses and his GRI at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a licensed General Appraiser for North Carolina.

Bart came to Hendersonville in 1970 and opened an appraisal office called B. T. Bryson Company which later became Bryson and Associates and Bryson Properties, a real estate firm within the same company.

As a Real Estate Appraiser and a Real Estate Broker, knowledge of his work required many hours of education consisting of schooling in many states throughout the USA.

He appraised throughout North Carolina and the Southeast, particularly the western part of North Carolina. Bart loved his appraisal work and favored condemnation appraising, and he continued to appraise condemnation for the DOT throughout his career.

He taught real estate appraising at the Realtors Institute in Chapel Hill, at Western Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Blue Ridge Technical Institute, Hendersonville, and Southwestern Technical Institute, Sylva.

Bart was an active member of the Appraisal Institute of Chicago and served on many national committees. He served twice as the president of the Western North Carolina Chapter No. 184 of The Society of Real Estate Appraisers and was recognized by them for his unselfish dedication of his time, talent, and energies in furthering real estate appraisal education in Western North Carolina.

He was also a very active member of the North Carolina Appraisal Institute and served on all committees and held all offices leading up to being president of the chapter.

He was appointed to the North Carolina Appraisal Board and served two terms and served a term as chairman, the only person for many years to have served on both North Carolina Real Estate Licensing Board and North Carolina Appraisal Board.

He was a member of the National Association of Real Estate Board, The North Carolina Board of Realtors, Hendersonville Board of Realtors, and Hendersonville MLS. He was a very active member of all these Boards. He served a term as President of the Hendersonville Board and the Hendersonville MLS, and they recognized him twice as Realtor of the year. He was awarded the Realtor of the Year Service Award for Region 7, and he was a Regional Vice President for the North Carolina Association of Realtors. He was appointed by Governor Jim Hunt to serve as a board member of the North Carolina Real Estate Licensing Board and also served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Board. The Hendersonville Board of Realtors bestowed upon him a Lifetime Achievement Award for his loyal service to the Board.

Bart was involved in many civic activities in Hendersonville and was always involved in other projects such as land development, property management, and restaurants. He retired from appraising in 2001, but continued his Real Estate Brokerage Firm working only with commercial properties. Before Bart got macular degeneration, he enjoyed the outdoors especially fishing and boating.

He will be forever missed by his loving wife, Joyce Bradley Bryson, and his son, Byron Bryson. He is survived by four brothers- Hubert of Brevard, George of Topton, Verlin of Cullowhee, and Darrell of Sylva; three sisters- Virgie Watson of Springfield, Oregon, Reva Clark of Waynesville, and Mary Jean Gibson of Candler, and numerous other family members and friends.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church, Hendersonville on January 23 at 2:00 pm, 2010. Dr. Earle R. Haire will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Heart Association of Upper SC and Western NC, 3535 Pelham Rd., Ste. 101, Greenville, SC 29615, or to the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc., PO Box 531313, Henderson, NV 89053.