Business giant and Ole Miss football legend Jim Poole Jr. has passed away at the age of 76.
Poole was a former All-SEC tight end for the Rebels, the founder of multiple Mississippi-based accounting firms, and a community servant who ministered to inmates. He died in Jackson on Sunday.
As a football star, Poole helped lead Ole Miss to a 25-9 overall record and three bowl appearances from 1969-71, where he tallied 110 career receptions for 1,196 yards and six touchdowns before signing a free-agent contract with the New York Giants. Poole was inducted into Ole Miss’ M-Club Hall of Fame in 2025 and was honored last fall by the university’s chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame with its Distinguished American Award.
Following his graduation from Ole Miss, Poole landed in Jackson, where he began a storied professional career. Poole was a certified public accountant who retired in 2013 as a principal of GranthamPoole, a firm he co-founded in 1999. GranthamPoole grew into one of the Southeast’s largest regional accounting firms and is recognized for its expertise in designing audit, ethics, and governance programs for clients.
Before helping start GranthamPoole, he founded James E. Poole, CPA, a public accounting firm, in 1985. Previously, he co-founded Mississippi Mortgage Company, which focused on low-income housing mortgage origination and syndication. He also built other businesses, including a real estate company focused on residential development in the Florida panhandle, in addition to a business dedicated to oil and gas exploration.
An active member of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Poole was also involved in the community with several ministries. He previously volunteered for Kairos Prison Ministries, an organization devoted to serving incarcerated men, women, and youth, and to assisting those who have been impacted by the prison system. He also served on the ministry’s Central Mississippi Board of Directors and spent more than 20 years as a board member for Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods.
A visitation service in Poole’s honor will take place at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson on Tuesday, Feb. 17, from 10 until 11:30 a.m., with the funeral service immediately following at 11:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. Burial will be at 4 p.m. at Oxford Memorial Cemetery.