Earl S. Worsham was born in Knoxville, TN 1932. He received a degree in Business & Finance from the University of Tennessee in 1955, then worked toward his MBA in the evening at American University while serving two years at the Pentagon with the US Army, Counter Intelligence.


        At the age of 14 he began working in the family construction business during summer vacations. His father passed away two years later, then at age 19 Earl developed his first housing project with $5,000 he had saved from his summer work.


        His first project was the successful building and sale of two houses, then five more houses, while a junior & senior in college. Thereafter, Mr. Worsham pursued a successful career of real estate development and investment, with notable achievements in many cities throughout the world.


        In the late 1960s Mr. Worsham pioneered turnkey housing concepts to municipal housing authorities, colleges and universities across the United States of America, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. His company was the largest developer of public housing in the United States. He sold the Turnkey Housing Company in 1969 to a New York Stock Exchange listed company.


        In 1988 Mr. Worsham went to the former Soviet Union as International Chairman of Trout Unlimited to promote good will between the two nations through a fisherman-to-fisherman cultural exchange program. There he created the first Joint Venture for Real Estate Development in the former Soviet Union by joining hands with the City of Moscow to build office buildings and apartments, generating desperately needed “hard currency” for the city by renting to western firms for US Dollars. Subsequently Mr. Worsham developed 16 office buildings and an apartment complex for western firms in this joint venture with the Moscow City Government, generating over $150,000,000 in hard currency values.


His community achievements include:

  1. Campaign Chair of the Sevier County United Way, 2002- Achieved a 52.7% increase in giving over 2001 and won award for leading the top United Way campaign in the country.

  2. Sevier County United Way- Board of Directors

  3. Mountain Hope Good Shepherd- Board of Directors

  4. Childhelp USA- Board of Directors

  5. Leadership Sevier- Committees

  6. Tennessee Wildlife Foundation- Chapter President

  7. Gatlinburg Gateway Foundation- Committees

  8. Knoxville Museum of Art- Board of Directors

  9. Atlantic Salmon Federation- Board of Directors

  10. Trout Unlimited- Board of Directors & International Chairman

  11. Other Boards and Committees of National scope


        In 1994 Mr. Worsham moved from Atlanta to east Tennessee (Knoxville & Gatlinburg) to begin a process of retirement and continue as Chairman of the Board of his companies (Over 32 companies throughout the world).

He bought his ancestral homestead in Knoxville, and 3100 acres of mountain land adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.


        Mr. Worsham has four children, two stepchildren, and seven grandchildren and is married to Margit Brooks-Worsham, a Danish-born US citizen who is very active in all aspects of the community (Campaign Chair of United Way 2003 and 2004 and exceeded Mr. Worsham’s record by over 30%, Chairman of the Sevier County Arts Council, and serves on 13 other community boards, Awarded Volunteer of the Year 2004 by the Governor of Tennessee and recognized by the United States Congress in its Congressional Record).