 | FRANK P. SAMFORD |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1969.
Frank Park Samford of Birmingham was born in Troy, Alabama on
November 1, 1893, the son of a judge and a grandson of a governor (William J. Samford).
After attending schools in Troy and Montgomery, he graduated in 1914 from Auburn University,
where he was active in campus affairs.
Soon after his college graduation, he entered the life insurance business, first with the Manhattan
Life Insurance Company of New York. State government service soon called, and he was named
Deputy Insurance Commissioner when the Insurance Department of Alabama was created in
1915.
He was elected secretary-treasurer of the present Liberty National Life Insurance Company in
1921; vice president in 1932; president in 1934; and chairman of the board in 1960. He is also
the director of a number of business firms and a past director of Southern Bell Telephone and
Telegraph Company.
Mr. Samford has been active in civic and community affairs throughout his life and was a major
support of Howard College in Birmingham. The school was renamed Samford University in his
honor. Mr. Samford serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Samford University, and
also is vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Auburn University. He is a trustee of
Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, a Director and past president of the Alabama State
Chamber of Commere, and a member of the Board and past president of Associated Industries of
Alabama.
In addition, he has been active in the Jefferson County Community Chest and the Alabama
Hearth Association. He was chairman of the Fund Raising Campaign which secured the USS
Alabama Battleship for Mobile in 1964.
Mr. Samford was designated "Man of the South" in 1958 by Dixie Business magazine. He
received the Vulcan Award from the Birmingham Area Council of Boy Scouts in 1964, and was
the recipient of he Gold Medal of Merit by Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1965. The Alabama
Boardcasters Association named him their "Citizen of the Year" in 1965, and he was elected to
the "Court of Honor" by the Alabama District Exchange Clubs in 1968.
Mr. Samford holds honorary degrees from Howard College of Birmingham and Auburn
University.
He is married to the former Hattie Mae Noland, and they have two children, Frank P. Samford Jr.
and Mrs. Samuel E. Upchurch.
Updated: March 14, 2007