ATLANTA, Ga. — A 46-year-old advertising executive from Mableton, Georgia, has stepped forward with the $116 million Powerball ticket.
Gerald L. Render chose the cash option so he'll only be getting $63 million before taxes.
Render claimed the prize Friday afternoon, two weeks after buying the winning Quik Pik jackpot ticket at Heby's Shell, on Floyd Road in Mableton.
The advertising executive had been showing up for work as usual at the Marietta-based Upscale Magazine. It's a publication of Bronner Bros., known for hair products and an Atlanta trade show that attracts tens of thousands.
Render is vice president of advertising at the national publication, where he has worked at least 15 years, said his assistant, Erika Bennett.
"He's a great supervisor," she told local media. "Very business-oriented, goal-oriented, smart, professional and," she added with a laugh, "secretive!"
Render didn't tell her that he'd won. She only realized her boss was a millionaire after a local reporter e-mailed her a photo of the winner included in the Georgia Lottery's announcement Friday.
"Yup, that's him," she said.
Render is married, with two teenage children. He told Bennett that he'd quit his job if he ever won the lottery, which he played frequently.
When it was announced that the winning ticket was purchased on Sept. 18 in Mableton, where she knew he lived, she called him on his cell phone on Sept. 20, a Monday, and joked: Are you coming to work?
Yes, he told her, as if nothing had happened.
At that moment, he actually didn't realize that anything had happened, said his boss, Nathaniel Bronner Jr., the executive vice president of the company.
Bronner said Friday that he was among the few people that Render had confided in. Bronner said Bennett's phone call caused Render to pull out his ticket and have a look.
At first, Render thought he'd won the $13 million jackpot. Then, he thought he'd won tens of millions. Finally, he realized he'd won the big one, Bronner said. Render, who was at the corporate headquarters, rushed home, grabbed his wife and drove back.
He walked with her into Bronner's office, removed the executive's briefcase from his desk, and told him they needed to pray.
It was so brusk, that Bronner worried something terrible had happened. So they prayed.
"Then, he told me he'd just won $116 million in the Powerball," Bronner said, "and I started laughing"
Bronner said Render was comparatively calm. "I was more unnerved than he was."
Render turned up for work every day except Friday, acting normally.
In the meantime, he was establishing the limited liability corporation, Nichelle Leando LLC., that he would use to cash in the ticket.
On Thursday, he told his colleagues that he'd be gone for a long weekend, returning Tuesday.
Then, the news broke.
Bennett, his secretary, said he'll be missed if he doesn't come back.
"He's a good salesman," she said. "We need him here."
Bronner said he doubts Render will return to work Tuesday, but said he expects him to come back eventually, at least for a while.
"The problem is, when you have that kind of money, everybody looks at you differently. I imagine he's going to look at some kind of modification to his career," Bronner said. "I don't think he really knows right now."
He said Render is concerned about "crackpots" coming after him and is guarding his privacy. The phone numbers at Render's home have been disconnected, and he couldn't be reached for comment. But his lawyers released a statement from him Friday evening.
"We are thankful and humbled by this enormous blessing that has been entrusted to us," Render wrote, "and we understand that with it comes the responsibility of good stewardship."
Render mentioned he was grateful to have received "the Business Anointing" on New Year's Day.
Bronner, who also is a pastor at the Ark of Salvation in Grant Park, explained that it was a service where participants were told to expect "unusual supernatural increase."
"He does not feel this was a random event," Bronner said. "He feels this was a divine blessing, without question." He said Render is donating "millions" to the church.
Render is "a very solid, level-headed fellow," Bronner said, adding that he is an Atlanta native and a Morehouse graduate. "If I was to pick anybody to give $100 million to and expect him to manage it without going crazy, it's him."
He walked into his boss's office and said they needed to pray.
I think everything's gonna work out good for this guy.
God bless him.
It says: he told his colleagues that he'd be gone for a long weekend..
Me too I will be gone for a looong weekend!
Congratulations!
And, have you heard of the british person whon won 113£ Millions (Brisitsh pounds, I don't even know how many dollars that is!) with the last Friday Euromillion?
Wow!!!
That is totally wonderful.I'd be happy to win a pick 3 in this sorry state.....wish I lived in an A+ state.
if someone came into my office saying " we need to pray" id be thinking i shoulda gone for the kevlar jacket !
no seriusly , he sounds like he has planned for the win before hand and has things in pretty good order.
being a godless heathen myself i dont see why all this praying is needed? i mean he already pulled the jackpot, whats he want now?
So, the government stole (aka "taxed") nearly half of his winnings?
Just think how much more humanity would have benefited from the other 60 million he won if he would have received it?
Instead, the government will waste the 60 million in stupid entitlement programs to reward lazy people and reinforce their laziness.
Something is terribly wrong with this country.
Explains how well the so-called teaparty types are so informed. They can't read for themselves andcomprehend anything. The only mention of taxes in the article is"Render chose the cash option so he'll only be getting $63 millionbefore taxes." That's how the lottery works. You can take the fullamount over thirty years, or you can take the seed-money-only cashoption immediately. Will there be taxes? Yes. But if you're going tocomplain again about the taxes, at least get it right.
Somany believe he "has his life together" because he believes in animaginary friend? Ever consider THAT'S what is at least partly wrongwith this country? So many think their imaginary friend can "beat up"everyone else's imaginary friend. LOL!
Congratulations to the 46 year old executive, who will.."ONLY get $63million".
If someone calmly walked into my office and stated we needed to pray...I would immediately call security and 911.
I don't consider myself a "member" of the Tea Party movement, but I would consider myself a "Tea Party type", because I believe in smaller government and more individual freedom. I do also think that I (and lots of other Tea-Party-like folks) are VERY well-informed. I can also read for myself and comprehend things fairly well. (If I do say so myself.)
I agree that the person you're quoting mis-understood the concept of the cash value, but taking that mistake and using it to slur all Tea Party-type people as basically stupid morons is unfair and a total non-sequitur.
Tea Party people understand that regardless of what you earn (or win), you can expect the government to take nearly half of it.
If you don't have a problem with that, then you don't understand the United States Constitution or the reason this country was founded in the first place.
The only vitriolic hatred I'm seeing spewed here is by you towards Christians and the Tea Party.
Better tune in to Keith Olbermann and drink another glass of his special Kool-Aid and calm down, dude.
You wouldn't happen to be angry about the turnout for the recent democrat/communist mini-march on Washington DC, would you?
You can believe all you want in your ACTUAL Constitution (whatever that is), if you want to, where the government takes control of every aspect of your life.
I'll stick with the Constitution of the United States of America which explicitly limits the powers of the federal government.
If you're insecure and feel you need a nanny to run your life, you might want to try Cuba or North Korea.
Most of us here can take care of ourselves.
And we're going to make that perfectly, crystal clear next month.
BTW, I hear the Kim-Chee is excellent in Pyongyang this time of year. Stay away from the canine fare though unless you absolutely must have meat for protein to survive. Icky yukky poo poo.
yes it was a devine blessing.
yes i am pumped this guy gives credit were credit is due (for him), and that it rightfully appears that he will be a great steward of such a gift. i really like that part of the story...
what does concern me, is what pastor bronner stated in the article that ......."Bronner, who also is a pastor at the Ark of Salvation in Grant Park, explained that it was a service where participants were told to expect "unusual supernatural increase."
that statement for face value is dangerous, in that it gives the false hope notion that mr render "received" such a blessing because he may have participated in that news years pronouncement, and that is not true.
he surely wasn't the only one there, and just by deduction, he may have not been the "most likely" to win out of all the attendee's based on bronner's type of qualification. (tithing, business affliation service, church attendance, amount of "faith" / "belief", positive confession consistentcy, etc.)
what i am getting at, is the false notion that you or i can achieve what bronner alludes to mr gender achieving via a "special meeting", or something of that nature.
when i lived in georgia, i watch pastor bronner occasionally, but he fell to the prosperity side of teaching, where you could "confess" things into existence, and that isn't true. and as i figured he would, he alluded to it by insinuating that meeting most likely equated mr genders destination.
God can tell us pre event, what He will do in and thru a persons life. that part is true. at times, He can do that thru another person.
what's not true, is the notion that anyone of us can attend a special "prophectic meeting", and somehow be guaranteed the same deal.
that's false hope, and nothing more
actually, more often than not, God picks the unqualifiable, the weak, the "faithless" and the disobedient for things he does.
why? because then God gets the credit, instead of someone saying "I EARNED IT"....
we can thru obedience place ourselves in a sphere of trustworthiness as well
i think in terms of common sense, and i wonder what other people think who attended that meeting that night, who read that statement as to why it wasn't them. pastor bronner has the burden of informing them their "faith" wasn't as strong, otherwise it would have been them instaed of mr gender
relax. if it's supposed to happen to you, it will.
if it ain't, you can't go to enough "meetings", nor can you buy enough tickets to make it happen
I'm so insulted by you saying "Kool-Aid" and all. Shame on you!!!! This is so not right and is very very insulting to all the hard working minorities and majorities of the U.S. You should be far more sensitive to the many struggling classes of people in the U.S.A who the very rich has taken advantage of and left with Golden Parachuts. With out the minority the rich is nothing, respect us.
By "Kool-Aid" he meant that some people will continue believing the current slate of politicians in power will "do some good" for them, no matter what evidence proves they are corrupt and are doing a horrendous job. There are "Kool Aid drinkers" on both the left and the right in this country.
The notion that calling someone a "Kool-Aid drinker" is somehow against minorities is ludicrous. It is a term that means someone will continue buying into a flawed and failed concept, no matter what.
There are people of every race and background in this country who are struggling. I'm not sure "minority" is even going to be a valid term anymore, because EVERYONE will be a minority soon.