John Grimes Medlin Jr. (November 23, 1933 – June 7, 2012) was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asse ...

from 1977 to 1993. He also served as chairman of the bank from 1988 to 1998.

Personal life

Medlin was born in Elevation, North Carolina to John G. Medlin Sr. and Mabel Stephenson. He grew up on the family farm, moving to Benson, NC, during high school. The first member of his family to attend college, he studied at the University of North Carolina on a Navy scholarship. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1956.

Career

After graduating from college, Medlin served in the U.S. Navy as a paymaster aboard a submarine support ship from 1956 to 1959. After leaving the Navy, Medlin joined

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

-based Wachovia the same year. He was named president in 1974 and CEO in 1977. During his time as CEO, Wachovia's assets grew from $3.6 billion to $35.3 billion, making it the 20th largest bank in the country.

Honors

In 1995, Medlin was inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame. He was honored in 1998 as the recipient of the Distinguished Citizens Award from the N.C. Citizens for Business & Industry. The North Carolina Bar Association honored Medlin "for outstanding contributions to the administration of justice in North Carolina” in 2008. In the 1990s, Medlin was appointed by Chief Justice

James G. Exum James Gooden Exum Jr. also known as Jim Exum (born September 14, 1935) is an American jurist who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1975 to 1994, and as chief justice from 1986 to 1994. Under his leadership, the court "expanded civil ...

to serve on the North Carolina State Judicial Council and as chairman of the commission on the Future of Justice and the Courts in North Carolina."Judicial Independence Requires More Resources and Greater Management Flexibility"
by John Medlin and

Rhoda Billings Rhoda Bryan Billings (born September 30, 1937) is an American lawyer and a former justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Billings is a native of Wilkesboro, North Carolina. She earned her law degree from Wake Forest University School of L ...

Death

Medlin died on June 7, 2012, from a heart attack while playing tennis.

References

2012 deaths UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School alumni 1933 births 20th-century American businesspeople People from Benson, North Carolina {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub