Brooks Oliver Pittman was born on 17 November 1904 to Dr. Clarence E. Pittman (1874- 1957) and Frances Kembell Brooks Pittman (1877-1962) of Commerce, Georgia. Dr. Clarence Pittman practiced dentistry in Commerce. Pittman had one younger brother, Clarence William Pittman (1909-1983).

Pittman earned an A.B. degree from Mercer University and attended West Point Military Academy, New York University, and was attending graduate school at Emory University when he died in 1952. Before teaching at West Georgia College, Pittman taught at Eastman High School in Dodge County, Georgia where he was a principal, a coach, and a teacher of both science and mathematics. According to an article in the 28 March 1950 edition of The West Georgian, Pittman had originally studied chemistry and physics because he planned on being a doctor.

Pittman arrived in Carrollton in 1928 and was a coach and taught science and math at Carrollton High School. Pittman did spend some time in business before becoming the coordinator of the West Georgia National Youth Administration (NYA) project and a mathematics instructor at West Georgia College. The NYA project was a separate school that was designed to teach young men and women practical vocational subjects and with the onset of WWII became a training center for many defense industries. In 1943 Pittman entered the reserves as an officer and was a member of the Chemical Warfare branch in the 4th Service Command where he was both war rations officer and the purchasing and contracting officer. Pittman was a Lieutenant Colonel in the reserves at the time of his death in 1952.

In 1944 Pittman married Margaret Long (1911-1996). They had two daughters, Dorothy Eugene (1948- ) and Margaret Brooks Pittman (1945- ). Dorothy Pittman owned Horton’s Books and Gifts which is located in downtown Carrollton.

Pittman would return to West Georgia College in 1947 as an assistant professor in the science department, where he taught both physics and chemistry. He was a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers, a Rotarian, a Mason, a Shriner and a member of the Lions Club. Pittman was also a member and a deacon at the Carrollton Presbyterian Church, and chairman of the local Civil Defense program. Pittman did have some attempted correspondence with Linus Pauling, winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In the correspondence housed in the Special Collections of the Valley Library at Oregon State University, Pittman questioned Pauling on molality and molarity. While in Carrollton, the Pittman family was well known for its themed parties. Pittman’s daughter, Dorothy, recalls two in particular. One of these was a costume party in which the entire West Georgia College faculty was invited, and each came dressed as a particular personality. Another was a bridge party with a Chinese theme. The meal consisted of chow-mein that would be made from chickens that the Pittman family raised. Pittman could not bring himself to kill these chickens and meat had to be brought from the store. (See From A&M to State University: A History of the State University of West Georgia).

Pittman died of a heart attack on 27 June 1952 at Emory Hospital and is buried with his wife in the Carrollton City Cemetery. In Pittman’s obituary Irvine S. Ingram, the president of West Georgia College, had these words: “Pittman was an able and trusted member of the staff of West Georgia College. He was scholarly, possessed a fine sense of humor and was attractive in every sense of the word….The College and University system has lost one of its most loyal members. I have lost a fine, trusted, friend and coworker.” The West Georgia College yearbook, the Chieftain, was dedicated to Brooks O. Pittman for the 1953 term.