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.
"he'll only be getting $63 million before taxes"
only $63 million dollars before taxes? sounds like someone will be living on cat food from now on
To get where the term "Kool-Aid drinkers" refers to and came from, look up Jim Jones, Jonestown, the cult he formed and their cyanide induced mass suicide. They were actually drinking Flavor Aid which as far as I know is similar but Kool-Aid is much better known. It's basically regarding people considered sheep unable to think for themselves.
WOW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>wow>>>>>>>>>>>wow>>>>>>>>>>>wow>>>>>>>>>>>>>WOW$$$$$$
we have ah winnewwwwwwwwwwww$$
pur U psyko >>>....>>sinsg
444444444444>....>>SUPPER>>>>
Thank you psyko.
Yeah, I was thinking about writing the actual source of the term, but figured most people wouldn't remember that. "Sheep" is a good way to put it. Maybe lemmings is even closer.
thank s for good news !!! but how can i macke a money????????????
You might make money with a lot of patience and a lot of good luck or developing your own winning system or getting numbers from members here, Brahmi.
But nothing is guaranteed.
Good luck to you and welcome to Lottery Post.
You guys know you spin that word when it comes to the working class and minorities in this county
who you rather pay less than nothing to work for labour. Stop branding them with this disgusting "Kool Aid"
sayings to cover your inner prejustice. Deal with real issues we face and not hide behine juices and tea.
Wow, unbelievable.
You're as well informed as everybody else in your crowd, I'll give you that much.
You could (and should!) give the keynote address at their convention.
Thank you for the religious persecution in your post!
The actual constitution guarantees Freedom of Religion!
Congratulations to Mr. Render, I hope he has a long happy , healthy life.
Mr. Ridge
Thanks for your clair answer , on first time by lottery post ! and i hope that evrythinng willbe ready !!!!!!!!!!
I haven't mention the Tea Party crowd in a while ,Todd you being the smart man that I think you are , you surprise me .After all that Tea Party crowd speaks for itself loud and clear.I am shock still in 2010 to hear mean sprited people speaking so ill of their fellow Americans.Why we can't truly be the country that we confess to be my brother keeper.
I'll give you a pacifier sorry your not old enough for tea.
unfotunately,I can't understand what's mean this disscction about tea party !!!! but i belive that we need to see a end of "senario" toghether!!!! for cash value is "oxygen "for our live but some time is will be distruction fo rthe live when we think that we haven't any limit !!!!!!
Thank you, for your wonderful reasoning of these matters. The truth is hard for some isolated groups who needs to
experience the world at large. Ignorance is not an excuse, we all need to learn the right way to live with each other.
Thank you,
for your insight into this mad world of the Tea Party, and I literally mean mad.
Ok. but remember that we are in one earth and we are in sam way to use all "tactically" version for capture of consern !!!!!
Hy !!!!
I'm waiting a developpement !!!! so it's true or only dream!!?? remember that i'm was scammed by internet tomany time ! can U immagine this "electronical global service" !!!!!
Brahmi my friend, let me briefly explain.
Tea Party refers to the Boston Tea Party when American Patriots were in the process of overthrowing British tyranny and dumped all the British Tea in the ocean because we were being taxed but not represented. The English were going against the will of the American people.
We now have a President and Congress that repeatedly go against the will of the people. All polls show that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to virtually everything our President and Congress are doing. They know we are against it but they defy us and go ahead and do it anyway.
Patriotic Americans have adopted the Tea Party label and are in the process of restoring liberty to our nation by removing the communists now in office in the upcoming elections in November of this year and 2012.
The people who comprise and support the party now in power are easily brainwashed and sell out their principles and core values for a pat on the head from a slick talker in the White House. They have been lied to by their leaders and believe that the Tea Party is racist and evil and violent.
I can tell you from experience as a Tea Party member that those claims are all lies. I attend Tea Party rallies and events and I participated in the two 9/12 Taxpayer Marches on Washington DC with these people. They are the nicest, friendliest, most decent people you will ever meet. I have never witnessed any racism or hate or violence at any Tea Party event and if I did, I wouldn't belong to it.
But we seem to have a couple people here who base their opinions on what they've heard on the leftwing hate blogs and from their "leaders". They seem to enjoy spreading gossip and rumors and lies without any evidence, documentation or firsthand experience. They should be ashamed of themselves.
They don't "know" anything for fact or from experience, they just go on repeating what they've "heard" from someone with a subversive and clandestine agenda.
I've invited people like that to come to Tea Party events to see for themselves what it's all about and to meet the people but they always decline because their minds are already made up and they don't want to hear the truth.
It's hard to educate the ignorant because they always think they know everything. It's sometimes hard to even talk to them because they're always the ones yelling the loudest.
Tea Party people are the real America Brahmi, and we are black, white, brown, yellow and red.
These others with the shrill, negative voices are mere symbolic aberrations of where we've gone wrong in the past.
Take care Brahmi, I hope you were safe from that toxic flood you had over there and good luck in the lottery!
"Thank you, for your wonderful reasoning of these matters."
You're welcome.
Anytime.
Tea Party people are not "mean". They are mainly angry that the government is trying to take most of the money people earn and spend it as it pleases. That is not the way America was founded. We are a free society, and the government was purposely set up to be as small and unobtrusive as possible.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson did not even want there to be a "Bill of Rights" (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution), because he felt the original Constitution was clear enough that the government should not interfere in anything involving personal liberty.
If you think Tea Party people are "mean", then you have not actually listened to any of them speak. Tea Party protests are just about the most docile and friendly gatherings that have ever taken place. If you were to attend a LIBERAL protest, such as the anti-war protests or the anti-Bush protests, you would have seen extremely MEAN protests. People cursing, horrible signs, death wishes, etc. But the Tea Party protests? They have signs like "Repeal the health care law". Give me a break, there is no comparison.
This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever read. EVER!!!!!
What the F-#$$ is inner prejustice?
I'm a Tea Party member, I am the working class and I'm a minority.
Deal with the real issues? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE ISSUES ARE!!!!
I spend alot of time writing letters making phone calls and reading everything I can so that I have the FACTS.
I am doing everything I can to help us all keep our hard earned money in our pockets, we have been taxed enough. TEA= TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY.
The people we voted into office have used us long enough, both parties!
WAKE UP.
All bets are off, I have been as fair minded as I could possibly be.
I don't know why you are so afraid of Sarah Palin and at this point I don't care.
The only person spewing hatred is you .
$63 Million is a lot of money ..........
CONGRATS !
..............
but tax cuts are not "giving" money to people ......... it is letting them keep what is theirs!
By the way ......... I am not wealthy ........ I make about $17 K a year ......... I don't believe in the Greed Of Envy!
Thanks for sharing.......hopefully with your post there will be a better understanding....
No problem Perfecttiming2, let's hope so.
This thread has been hijacked...
Congrats to the winner of $116million....
I am a minorty of the most and I can hold my ground with any of the Tea Party including SARAH know nothing A$$ Palin. So you people don't get it .This Tea Party isn't going to change nothing with out the help of all the people of all races and classes this hatful group of people are not inclusive, that is not true. Those racist sign calling Black people monkey and Apes.Oh! I am suppose to like this crap. I don't think so.
SHAME on you people .I live and let live ,but don't step on my liberty.
Thank you Todd. I just wanted to set the record straight. It gets a little annoying and even frustrating at times to keep hearing things constantly repeated that you know from personal experience are just patently false.
It reminds me of that old English Proverb: There are none so blind as those who will not see.
I hope people will research things for themselves instead of basing their opinions on the counsel of others with their own specific agendas regarding any particular topic.
The Tea Party could just as well be called The Common Sense Party because that what it's all about at it's very core, just common sense.
Thanks again.
Show me one of those signs with that nonsense on it carried by a Tea Party member Louise, just one.
The liberal news media has been hoping and praying and searching for something like that so they could discredit the movement and have never found anything of the kind or it would have been all over the news.
It sounds like you're hitting the sauce a little early tonight Louise.
Tea Party people would never allow or be remotely associated with anything like that.
First, CONGRATS to the Powerball Winner. It sounds like he will do good with his winnnings. I wish him and his family well!
Second, I am not a member of the "tea party", but I support their efforts 100%. They are standing up for the injustices this current government has done. Spending how many trillions of dollars for a "stimulus" that did nothing, except cause debt for my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They've created a "healthcare reform bill" that will cause people, like myself, who currently have health insurance to pay MORE for it. (We just received our notice from our employer today which states this) Must we not forget that the new healthcare reform now makes it mandatory for employers to put their health care costs contributions on OUR w-2, even though we won't be taxed on it "yet".
Gee, thanks Obama, more costs and taxes, just what this country needs in a RECESSION!!
As for the above poster, you claim you can hold your ground against Sarah Palin...how would you do that when you can't even spell or complete a sentence with grammar?
You are d--- wrong ,it's easy for some people ,who has been given a leg up just ( Because ), to make petty statment like this , Oh! yes grammar and all I still can hold my own with the likes of SARAH and other race baiting crowd.If you ask me ,which I wasn't but,I will say it anyway people like you just I have been.Paid for your father and grandfather debts. Excuse me,but that how it works. Yes, one of my family member works now for one of the worst company ever.She has to pay a hefty part of her insurance and still pays large doctor and hospital bills.This is before the Healthcare bill.
rdgrnr , who was the woman carrying the monkey telling Obama to go back to Africa, not to mention the Hilter mustach on the President.No, rdgrnr I haven't had a glass of wine in two months. After all this I might have to have a glass.
I just want to say this.... to the person who said that there are communist in the government.... just wait, because at the rate we are borrowing money from China( how much went towards the wars?) , we will probably will end up being called the United States of China pretty soon.
Louise, believe me, if there was any racism displayed by Tea Party Members, the President's Cheerleaders (the news media) would have been all over it. I am in the Tea Party Louise and I swear to you there is no racism. I have never seen the monkey/Africa thing you speak of and I can assure you that it would not be allowed by the Tea Party members. I did see George Bush depicted as a monkey and with a Hitler mustache on the internet for years though. Everyone seemed to think that was funny.
The news media won't show you but we have blacks as well as other minorities at our rallies and in our marches. The last Nashville rally I went to, over half of the speakers were black. Do you think they would be there with a bunch of racists carrying racist signs? I don't think so.
I only hope you will check your sources out a little better Louise or maybe I should just get a bottle of Jack and come up there and take you to a Tea Party event. I'll even let you carry a big ol' poster with a picture of me with a Hitler mustache if you want. Then we'll go bar hoppin' and get good and drunk.
We are already overtaken by China they own us now and they have owned this country for a very long time
because tea partyers send all our jobs, manifacturing jobs to China. Have you every viste China and see for yourself what is happening there?
What is happening is a major unbelieviable work force. Everywhere you look major construction and building is going on. People from all over the world has
been going to China to invest and have a place for their adventures. Its like the Gold Rush over there to see it is mind blowing. But we remain here arguing about tea and Kool Aid, we have trully lost America to idiots.
"we have trully lost America to idiots."
I agree but we can still vote them out again. Don't give up hope.
You cannot understand because you are of a small mind. Like I've said ingnorce is no excuse!
And I'm back-up by the Supreme Court Of The United States, that is where that saying is from; learn my dear to hold intelligence as power over ingnorance.
Then and only then you will grow and be empower to see beyond what you infer to be real but is not. Tea is just tea, Kool Aid is just juice but
a waisted mind can be changed if one only will it to be so. Stay loss in tea and see how much backwards we will fall and the world will pull ahead as they have done already in almost everything.
Congratulations to the Winner, and many happy blessings! Now if I can be one of those "Lucky" winners....
Wow, some of the comments on here...
"If you ask me ,which I wasn't but,I will say it anyway people like you just I have been.Paid for your father and grandfather debts."
Louise, if you could put together a coherent sentence, maybe we could figure what the hell you're trying to say.
Or is your failure to write a complete coherent sentence the fault of whites, the tea party, republicans, whoever?