John Medlin

Medlin worked at Wachovia for 41 years, serving as chief executive for 17 years until retiring on Jan. 1, 1994. He retired after 10 years as chairman in 1998. Medlin was born in 1933 on a farm near Benson. He graduated from the business school at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1956, and then served in the U.S. Navy. He joined Wachovia, then based in Winston-Salem, in 1959. He eventually became its chief executive in 1977, taking over the $3.3 billion-in-asset bank as banks in the Southeast were dealing with a real estate downturn. He served on several local nonprofit and corporate boards, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., US Airways Group Inc., Hanes Corp., Piedmont Airlines Inc., UNC Chapel Hill, Salem Academy and College, Wake Forest University and UNC School of the Arts. When he died, he was serving on the board of Senior Services Inc. and the judicial independence committee of the N.C. Bar Association.