Banking titan Benedict passes away at 94

Longtime First American leader remembered as 'grand master of banking'

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood and Walker Duncan

Andrew Benedict (Nashville Banner photo courtesy of Nashville Public Library)

Andrew Bell Benedict Jr., one of the most important figures in the history of Nashville banking, died today at the age of 94.

Benedict had a single employer for his entire working life: the American National (later First American National) Bank. Under his leadership, First American became the dominant bank in Middle Tennessee and a potent source of community leadership.

Joining the bank upon his graduation from Vanderbilt in 1935, Benedict started out as a $50-a-month runner and worked his way up the ranks. He assumed the presidency in 1960 and became chairman of the board in 1969. He retired in 1979 but retained the title of senior chairman of First American and then of the local offices of its successors, AmSouth and Regions Bank.

In the course of his career, Benedict held important positions within the American Bankers Association and served as president of the elite Association of Reserve City Bankers (now known as the Financial Services Roundtable). He was friends with many of the nation's leading bankers in the decades after the Second World War.

In a 1980 interview with the local business magazine Advantage, Benedict summed up his approach to the business of banking. "All banks have the same commodity," he said. "We never had an officers' meeting that I didn't get up and say, 'Now remember, what we're called on to do is just a little bit more than our competitor is going to do. We need to do a little bit more in every instance than we are called on to do, and that will show the people that we are interested in them as individuals.'"

In addition to his work in banking, Benedict was active on the boards of a number of local charities as well as Vanderbilt University, where he had served as a trustee since 1965, becoming a trustee emeritus in 2003.

Of Benedict, fellow Vanderbilt trustee and banking veteran Ed Nelson told NashvillePost.com, "You could call him the grand master of banking with his keen mind and his pride in his successful banking career."

Surviving Benedict are daughter Hennie Benedict Morris, son Andrew Bell "Buddy" Benedict III, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at West End United Methodist Church. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Christ United Methodist Church in Franklin. Interment will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Christ United Methodist Church.