Charles Clifford Cameron

Charles Clifford “Cliff” Cameron was he former First Union CEO, and also played a major role in the Charlotte and North Carolina civic scene. At First Union’s helm from 1966 to 1984, Cameron led one of the city’s two major banking institutions at a time when they were launching aggressive growth strategies that would turn Charlotte into a national banking center. Cameron was from Meridian, Miss., the son of a railroad man father and a devout Baptist mother. After graduating from Louisiana State University, he commanded a mortar battalion in World War II that met up with the Russians at the Elbe River. After working in the refinery business, he partnered with an Army friend in Raleigh, James Poyner, to launch a mortgage company that would eventually become a top 10 lender in the United States. In 1964, he sold the Cameron-Brown Co. to Charlotte-based First Union after turning down offers from bigger rivals NCNB and Wachovia. Cameron started out as head of the mortgage unit, but in two years he was leading the bank. As CEO, Cameron also nurtured a young municipal bond trader, Ed Crutchfield, who would succeed him in 1984. Cameron retired as a director of the company in 1991. Cameron was active in Charlotte civic affairs. He was credited in 1983 with founding “The Group,” a collection of top business leaders, including Crutchfield, McColl, then-Duke Power CEO Bill Lee and then-Observer publisher Rolfe Neill, who helped guide Charlotte’s growth. Cameron also advised Wake Forest University on managing its $200 million endowment and chaired the UNC Charlotte Foundation and University Research Park boards. In his later years, he served on the board of directors of the Southminster Retirement Community in South Charlotte, where he lived. His wife, Sara, died in 2012. He is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.