"The decision to resign from the board was a difficult one, but the multiple demands on my time required me to make some tough choices among various priorities," the Flushing, NY native says in a prepared statement released by Post Properties.

Blank's resignation comes as Post battles former company chairman John A. Williams in Cobb County Superior Court. Williams' suit, filed March 24, alleges Post and its directors are attempting to oust him as chairman emeritus and cut off his $150,000-a-year stipend.

Blank was named in the suit as a defendant along with other directors Herschel M. Bloom, partner, King & Spaulding law firm; David Stockert, Post's president; John T. Glover, former Post vice chairman; Russell R. French, general partner, Noro-Moseley Partners; Charles E. Rice, chairman, Mayport Venture Partners LLC; Ronald de Waal, chairman, WE International b.v. (The Netherlands) and vice chairman, Saks Inc. (USA); and Robert C. Goddard III, Post's newly named chairman.

Judge Kenneth O. Nix granted Williams' motion for a temporary, 30-day restraining order against Post and the directors from taking any action against him.

Blank's decision to distance himself from Post leaves the company with a large boardroom chair to fill. "Mr. Blank has played a key role on Post's board of directors since he joined the board," Goddard says in the statement. "He has been a valuable and insightful director, helping the board of directors with his sound judgment, business experience and financial expertise."

Blank serves as a director with numerous national groups. They include North Carolina Outward Bound School, a nonprofit corporation; Cox Enterprises Inc.; and Staples Inc. He is on the board of trustees of The Carter Center Inc. and Emory University, and is a council member of the Georgia Council for the Arts; serves as co-chair for the capital campaign for the Atlanta Olympic Museum; and chairs the capital campaign for the new Atlanta Symphony Center.

Blank is also president and CEO of Atlanta Falcons, the National Football League franchise; and president and CEO of AMB Group LLC, the Atlanta-based business management and investment arm of the Arthur M. Blank Family Office company.

According to its Web site, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Stephanie Blank, Arthur Blank's wife, have donated over $100 million in the past eight years to various organizations, including Outward Bound, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Piedmont Park Conservancy, Zoo Atlanta, Hands on Atlanta and Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry.