Knight Commanders

Giles Jared Patterson, Jr.

27th Knight Commander

Alpha Alpha–University of the South, 1934

Giles Jared Patterson, Jr. was born in Chester , South Carolina , in 1913, and he was an active KA since his initiation by Alpha Alpha Chapter in 1934. President of the Jacksonville , Florida , Alumni Chapter from 1950 to 1951, he was largely responsible for the twenty-five and fifty year certificates adopted by the Executive Council in 1955. In 1952 he was appointed the second Crawford Province Commander, and he established its Court of Honor in 1956. Chairman of the 1962-1963 Special Advisory Committee that guided the Executive Council through the critical question of its membership restrictions, he was elected to the Executive Council in 1963. He was unanimously elected Knight Commander in 1967 and 1969. During his second term, he established the Order’s first national philanthropic effort to benefit the Christian Appalachian Project, Inc. Interestingly, Delta Kappa Chapter was honored as the top chapter in that effort and he presented the award to then Number I, Former Knight Commander J. Michael Duncan. An early member of Kappa Alpha Scholarship Fund, he served as its vice president until 1988. By profession, Patterson was an insurance agent in Jacksonville , where he was recognized as a prominent business and civic leader and founder of the Florida Museum of Confederate History.  Former Knight Commander Patterson died on October 17, 1999.