Michael B. Suttle, age 74, of Addison, Texas, went to be with the Lord on September 4, 2020, in Frisco, Texas. He was born on September 14, 1945, to Ruby (DeYoung) and Charles Suttle in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Michael proudly served in the United States Army. He worked as an Executive in the Record industry for many years before moving to Texas and joining the automotive industry.
Michael is survived by his daughters, Michelle Robertson and her husband, Duncan, of Hendersonville, North Carolina and Stephanie Housel and her husband, Jeremy, of Carrollton, Texas; son-in-law, Jeff Leonard, of Wilmington, North Carolina; four grandchildren, Jeffery Leonard of Wilmington, North Carolina, Lainie Robertson of Charleston, South Carolina, Lachlan Robertson of Hendersonville, North Carolina, Hadin Robertson of Hendersonville, North Carolina; Nephews and nieces, Victoria Burnett of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, Kieran Brown of Haarlem, The Netherlands, Andrew Brown of Greensboro North Carolina and Miquan Robinson of The Colony, Texas; extended family, Linda and Stan Spraggins of The Colony, Texas and his fur family Holly and Barrett.
Michael was preceded in death by his daughter, Kimberly Leonard; sister, Dianne Suttle; and parents, Ruby and Charles Suttle.
Michael had a larger than life personality. He left home at the age of 14 during the 8th grade after his Math teacher ridiculed him in front of the class telling him he would never amount to anything. He worked odds jobs until landing his first DJ job in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1965, he was drafted into the Army and deployed from Fort Bragg to Vietnam where he served one tour of duty in the Signal Core who went in before the marines and set up the communication lines. When he left for Vietnam, his wife Earline Yow was expecting their first child. Kimberly was born in 1967 while he was still in there. During his time there he wrote regularly to his wife and beloved Mother. Upon his return to the States he lived in Spartanburg before moving his family to Louisville, Kentucky, working as a DJ at WKLO using the name “Montgomery Hogg.”
Quoting their website “He was the jock who flipped the Rugbys' 45 from "Stay With Me" to "You, I" and it became a national hit. After that, he moved onto Elektra Records as National Country Promotion Director signing folks like Eddie Rabbitt who became one of his life long friends, working on albums for Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles and Queen just to name a few. Another one of his closest friends which he met during that time was recording engineer Gene Eichelberger.
In 1974 Mike was promoted to General Manager of Elektra/Asylum records in their Nashville office. Mike continued his career in the music industry until retiring and moving to Texas in the early 80’s. Mike had a 2nd successful career in the Automobile Industry as well as the RV Industry where he met many friends that became his Texas family which include Charlie and Pat Nixon, Jerry Reynolds and the Pete Conley family.
Mike’s other interest included animals, technology, photography, guns, horses, artists, golfing, huge UT fan and huge love of all things Texas.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Michael's GoFundMe page to help with his funeral services.
A Graveside Service will be held at DFW National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75211, on Friday, October 2, 2020 beginning at 1:15 PM.