Drew Tanner

John Andrew “Drew” Tanner, Jr.

A Douglas native, Drew Tanner is the first of his family to join the legal profession, but he was raised on the tenets of hard work, serving others and contributing to his community.

“My dad and his father were farmers and I worked on the farm as a kid. My mom’s dad was an Army officer who joined the service during World War II and retired as a full bird colonel,” Drew says proudly.

Drew graduated at the top of his class from Coffee High School in 1982. He also earned ten varsity letters in three sports; baseball, football and wrestling, while being a part of winning two baseball state championships. He still holds several Georgia state pitching records. After high school, Drew was appointed to the United States Naval Academy where he studied oceanography and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. While there, he was a varsity baseball captain, made the 1986 Coaches All-America Baseball team and was inducted into the U.S. Naval Academy’s Hall of Fame.

After graduating from USNA and being commissioned as an officer in the Navy in 1986, he was chosen to play on the 1986 USA Baseball Team where he competed in several international tournaments culminating in the World Championships in Amsterdam, Holland. He then attended rigorous pilot training where he earned his wings of gold and became a Naval Aviator in March of 1989. While in the Navy, he served with Patrol Squadron Twenty-Four (VP-24) in Jacksonville, FL where he was a Beartrap Mission Commander leading multiple important missions around the world, working with the British, Italian, Argentine, Brazilian, Venezuelan, German, French, Spanish and Norwegian navies. He was also hand-picked to be a P-3C Orion instructor pilot due to his expertise in aircraft knowledge, flying ability and personal demeanor. He served as a flight instructor in Training Squadron Two (VT-2) with the mission of training both U.S. and Allied-Forces naval officers in the initial phases of flight instruction. He was selected Flight Instructor of the Month multiple times.

After serving eight years in the Navy, Drew was honorably discharged in 1994 to attend law school at the University of Georgia. “I spent the few months before the start of law school helping my dad on the farm and quickly remembered why I wanted to go to law school,” he said. He quickly landed a job as a law clerk at what was then Farrar and Hennesy while attending the University of Georgia School of Law. After graduation he joined the firm now known as Farrar, Hennesy & Tanner in June of 1997 and has been there since.

“Now sometimes, I’ll sit at my desk when there’s a lot of pressure, a lot of a lot of work and a good deal of stress,” he says. “For a moment, I might wonder if driving a tractor on the farm would be less stressful. But then, I remember a different kind of stress when a crop failed because it wouldn’t rain or rained too much. I can’t control the rain. But I can control how I approach a case and know what must be done to secure a win for my clients. And sometimes, the smaller cases are just as satisfying as those multi-million-dollar cases because each client deserves and receives my best effort regardless of the amount at stake. For some clients, if not most, it’s not always about the money. It’s about a shoulder to cry on and being able to talk with someone who understands the problem and is ready, willing and capable of helping them.”

Drew’s deep respect and affection for American farmers and Military Veterans – as well as his taste for spicy flavors and Buffalo wings – led to him joining a group of veteran friends that launched The General’s Hot Sauce after the idea formed during a tailgater at an Army-Navy Football Game. “A great sauce for the greater good.” The General’s features an array of fiery flavors packaged in grenade-shaped glass bottles and containing 86% American-grown peppers. The sauces bear military-inspired names like Hooah Jalapeno, Shock & Awe, Maple Mayhem, Danger Close and Grunt Green. There’s also A Salt Weapon, a coarse-grain, non-iodized sea salt blended with ground sun-dried habanero peppers. The company creates jobs for veterans and a portion of every purchase benefits multiple organizations that support troops, veterans and their families.

Each year, Drew and many Navy friends participate in the “Wilson Cup” which is match-play golf tournament in honor of fallen Navy SEAL Marc Wilson, who was killed during a training exercise in the mid-1990s. He also enjoys traveling to play top courses throughout the U.S. and in Ireland and Scotland.

Drew’s wife, Regan, is a real estate broker with offices in Douglas and Valdosta. They have raised five children and now enjoy two grandchildren, with a third on the way. They are active members of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and enjoy supporting and participating in community activities.