 | KENCH LEE LOTT, JR. |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1980.
Kench Lee Lott, Jr., a Mobile banker, was the son of Kench Lee and Clara Mae (King) Lott, born
February 3, 1920, in Selma. Upon graduating from public school he attended Alabama Polytechnic
Institute, now Auburn University, where he was affiliated with the Sigma Nu Social Fraternity, and
the honorary organizations of Delta Sigma Pi, Blue Key, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Pi, and
Scabbard & Blade. He received his B.S. degree in Commerce in 1941.
His military service included three years as a captain in the 29th Division Field Artillery, U. S. Army
from 1941 to 1946. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
After World War II he received his M. B. A. Degree from the Wharton School of Finance &
Commerce, University of Pennsylvania in 1947; later he graduated from the Stonier Graduate School
of Banking, Rutgers University in 1954, and the Graduate School of Credit and Financial
Management, Dartmouth College in 1962.
In 1947 Mr. Lott joined the Second National Bank of Houston, Texas, and in 1948 began his
association with the Merchants National Bank of Mobile as Assistant Manager in the Foreign
Department. He became assistant vice president in 1953, and step by step advanced to vice
president in 1957, then senior vice president in 1965, executive vice president and director in
1968, president in 1972, president and Chief Executive Officer in 1976, and chairman and Chief
Executive Officer in 1978. Mr. Lott was elected in 1974 as Vice Chairman of the Board of
Southland Bancorporations, and in 1978 began serving as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive
Officer of that institution.
In his professional life he held membership and major offices in the Associated Industries of
Alabama, the Newcomen Society of North America, the American Bankers Association, the
Alabama Bankers Association, the Robert Morris Associates and representative to the Bankers
Association for Foreign Trade. He has published articles on banking appearing in professional
periodicals, for example, "Secured Lending" section of the Bankers Handbook as a
contributing editor.
Mr. Lott was associated in various corporate interests which included directorships in the
Grand Hotel Company, Point Clear; Oppenheimer International Corporation, Mobile; Dravo
Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and National Health & Welfare Trustee of the Mutual Life
Insurance Association, New York City.
Some of the educational, social and civic interests in which Mr. Lott was associated as a member
and officer are the Senior Bowl Committee and Mobile Arts and Sports Association, the Providence
Hospital's Associate Board, the United Fund of Mobile County, the Boy's Club of Mobile, the
Lurleen B. Wallace Memorial Cancer Hospital, Spring Hill College, the Alabama Commission on
Higher Education, University of South Alabama's School of Business, S.D. Bishop State Junior
College, the Mobile County Foundation, the Fine Arts Museum of the South, the Industrial
Development Board of Mobile, the Seaman's Club of Mobile, the Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund, the
Mobile Center City Development Authority, the Auburn University National Alumni Association,
the Auburn University Research Foundation, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, the
International Trade Club, the Mobile Public Library, the Boy Scouts of America, Downtown Mobile
Unlimited, the Propeller Club, the Isle Dauphine Club, Honorary Fellows of Mobile (Baptist)
College, the faculty of the Louisiana State University's School of Banking of the South, Goodwill
Industries of Mobile, the Mobile Kiwanis Club, the Athelstan Club, the Country Club of Mobile and
the Lakewood Golf Club.
Mr. Lott was a communicant of the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. He has three daughters: Mrs.
Barbara Ann Hannan, Mrs. Betsy Wright Poole and Mrs. Claire Marie Weathers. He is now deceased.
Updated: March 15, 2007