Found this pretty fair obit which makes several points we've mentioned or asked about. It's by Dick Pettys, an AP writer.

Lester Maddox, who was elected one of the last of the South's fist-shaking segregationist governors in 1966 after he and his friends used pick handles and a gun to scare blacks away from his fried-chicken restaurant, died Wednesday at 87.

Maddox never backed down from his stance on segregation, even after Alabama's George Wallace and many of the other hard-line Southern governors eventually said they were wrong to fight integration.

"I think forced segregation was wrong. I think it was just as wrong to force integration," he told The Associated Press in 1996. And if he had it to do it over again, he said, "I'd fight even harder."

"That puts a stain on the legacy," said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, a civil rights veteran.

Maddox served as governor from 1967 to 1971 after being elected as something of a fluke in a disputed contest that had to be decided by the Legislature. Despite his views on integration, he was more moderate as governor than most expected, appointing more blacks to key positions than any of his predecessors.

"In spite of all that, he couldn't shake the yoke of racism and segregation," Brooks said. "If Lester had said, `I was wrong,' I believe the vast majority of African-Americans would have said, `OK, we forgive you.'"

Maddox had battled cancer since 1983 and cracked two ribs earlier this month when he fell at an assisted-living home. He later developed pneumonia and died in an Atlanta hospice.

The flamboyant restaurant owner often seemed more caricature than flesh. His slick pate and thick glasses were fodder for cartoonists, and he was known for quaint sayings and outrageous gestures like riding a bicycle backward.

"How you, chief?" was one customary greeting. Another: "It's great to be alive. A lot of folks aren't, you know."

A high school dropout born in a working-class section of Atlanta, Maddox gained national attention in 1964 when he brandished a pistol and chased black protesters from his Pickrick restaurant the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. Whites from his restaurant chased the protesters with pick handles. Maddox closed and then sold the Pickrick rather than serve blacks.

He would adopt the pick handle as his political symbol during his gubernatorial campaign and thereafter, and sold souvenir picks and axes.

Maddox's showmanship and his anti-integration stance won him a following in Atlanta, where he made two unsuccessful bids for mayor.

He captured the Democratic nomination for governor in 1966, despite being written off by moderates and liberals as a colorful crackpot.

In the general election, he trailed Republican Howard H. "Bo" Callaway, but write-in votes for other candidates assured that neither received the required majority, throwing the election to the Democrat-dominated Legislature, which picked Maddox.

Despite his reputation, Maddox began his term in office with a vow that "there will be no place in Georgia during the next four years for those who advocate extremism or violence."

But in 1968, Maddox refused to close the Capitol for the funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and expressed anger that state flags were being flown at half-staff.

Maddox got high marks from critics for choosing capable administrators to run state operations during his term and for making the office accessible to anyone through a program called "Little Peoples Day."

And supporters loved "Old Lester" for the way he denounced the Atlanta newspapers as "fishwrappers" or condemned the latest ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Barred from seeking a second term, he was elected lieutenant governor, using the post to spar with his successor, Jimmy Carter. He ran for governor again in 1974 and lost. A final comeback bid in 1990 saw him finish last in a five-person race.

"I'm still a segregationist. I just told you I'm a segregationist. I've told you that 15 times. When are you going to start believing me?" he said in 1973.

Wallace was among Maddox's heroes, but toward the end of his career Wallace sought to make amends on segregation. Maddox said he still regarded Wallace as "my buddy," but told the AP that Wallace "was either a liar then or he's a liar now."

Former state Rep. Matt Towery, a longtime Maddox friend, said the former governor "believed what he did was proper in the 1960s. He was unapologetic for it." But Maddox "did not have a racist bone in his body when I came to know him in 1969."

Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered flags on state buildings and grounds lowered to half-staff.

His funeral will be held Friday in Marietta. His wife, Virginia, died in 1997. They had two daughters and two sons.

Spaw