Banker Frank Etheridge was ‘mild in his tone, but powerful in his impact’

Longtime Columbus banker and community leader Frank Etheridge III died Friday morning at his home following a lengthy illness, the family confirmed.

He was 71.

Funeral arrangements, which are being handled by Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, are incomplete.

Etheridge, a career banker after graduating from Georgia Tech, spent 21 years as the SunTrust market president and chief executive officer for West Georgia before retiring in 2009. He was also active in many business and civic causes including the Development Authority of Columbus, the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley and Historic Columbus Inc.

He was also an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Columbus.

Etheridge’s family moved to Columbus from Atlanta when he was 2, and he was among the first to attend Clubview Elementary School. He graduated from Columbus High School.

“He used to joke that they got here when he was 2, so he wasn’t really from here,” said Etheridge’s son, Frank IV.

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson was a neighbor and friend who held Etheridge in high regard.

“This is such a loss for our community,” Tomlinson said. “Frank was a good-hearted, deeply earnest man. He was mild in his tone, but powerful in his impact. Unless you had the opportunity to work with him, you may not have known that Frank was a visionary. He loved big ideas.”

One of those big ideas was the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, which Etheridge played a key role in establishing, said retired Columbus Ledger-Enquirer President and Publisher John Greenman.

“He led organizations that mattered when it mattered most,” Greenman said. “... He helped to raise the $2.7 million that helped establish the Community Foundation and put it in business forever.”

In the two decades since its founding, the foundation has grown to $160 million in assets, helping donors make grants of almost $15 million a year to organizations and causes in the Chattahoochee Valley.

He was not always the loudest voice at the table, but he was always there, Tomlinson said.

“He was modest and quiet, but always aware of his valuable voice at the table,” the mayor said. “I was so very fortunate to have him as a mentor and adviser over many years, even before our work together at MidTown, Inc. Frank was a wonderful neighbor who loved the strength of Columbus’ diverse in-town neighborhoods and invested his time, treasure and talent into preserving them. We lost a good man today.”

He was chairman of MidTown Inc. at the time of his death.

He died at his midtown home, where he’s lived since moving back to Columbus in 1988 to take over the West Georgia SunTrust operation.

The span of local organizations that Etheridge has worked with is wide: the Columbus High School Foundation, the Columbus Museum, the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Vote Yes for Schools, St. Francis Hospital, the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, the Valley Partnership, the Urban League, Springer Opera House, United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, Uptown Columbus, Trade Center Authority, Columbus State University Foundation and Columbus Technical College Foundation.

Mat Swift, retired W.C. Bradley Co. Real Estate Division president, served with Etheridge on many of those organizations.

“I know this becomes cliché, but I always thought of Frank as a servant leader,” Swift said. “He would always sit back, get things done, and never take any of the credit.”

The organizations Etheridge served were not just notches on a resumé, Swift said.

“He was on so many boards, and it was not only because he worked for SunTrust, but he had a real love for this community,” Swift said. “That love of community was part of his DNA.”

Because Etheridge was a banker, he was able to lend his financial expertise to organizations.

“When it came to a lot of the non-profit organizations, he would often gravitate to the financial end of the operation,” Swift said.

SunTrust was a key player in the Columbus banking community, which was dominated by Synovus, a regional bank headquartered in Columbus.

In a 2001 interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Etheridge discussed Columbus and its outlook heading into the 21st century, and SunTrust’s role in increasing market share and helping to grow the city and region. He touched on what it was like to compete against Synovus and Columbus Bank and Trust, which has dominated the local banking market for years with their hometown roots.

“What makes CB&T unique in one way is the fact that really you’ve got to consider they own Total System, which is a big player here,” he said. “That’s a large amount of business that’s captive to that bank. As far as new business and new services and businesses and everything else, it’s a pretty wide-open competition out there. But when you do throw in the (W.C.) Bradley interest with Synovus along with Char-Broil, what I call ‘the family companies,’ then there is a big segment of market that’s pretty much excluded. When you get beyond that, it’s wide open like it is in any community.”

Don’t discount Etheridge’s ability as a banker, said his longtime friend and co-worker Allen Taber, who succeeded Etheridge as the head of the West Georgia Sun Trust operation.

“He was an extremely good banker,” Taber said.

He started out of college at Trust Company of Georgia, which later became Trust Company Bank and then SunTrust. As he worked for the company in Atlanta, Albany and then back in Atlanta, there was one goal, Taber said.

“As he was working his way up, he was always looking to get back to Columbus,” Taber said.

As a boss, Taber paid his mentor the highest compliment.

“What he did was empower people,” Taber said. “He gave you the responsibility, then he got out of your way and let you succeed or fail. A lot of us respected that.”

In that 2001 interview, Etheridge talked about the toll that being a bank executive could take.

“Sometimes it’s very difficult to separate your personal life or your social life from your business life, because all of us in this room go to so many ‘social functions,’ but we’re only there really in effect because of our business connections and things (like) the fund raisers and this, that and the other,” he said. “Just having time to have the neighbors together and cook out in the back yard, those times are few and far between.”

Virginia Peebles, retired executive director of Historic Columbus Foundation, knew Etheridge as one of the past presidents of Historic Columbus. They both attended First Presbyterian and were close family friends.

Etheridge, never one to back away from difficult situations, played a leadership role in the 2015 First Presbyterian vote to remain with Presbyterian Church (USA). The outcome of the vote split the church. Etheridge, who had been a member of the downtown church for more than three decades, was the chairman of the committee to stay with the denomination.

“He didn’t ask for that,” Peebles said. “We kind of thrust him into that. He took a lot of tough knocks and remained faithful.”

Etheridge, in a 2015 Ledger-Enquirer interview, called it a “horrible experience.”

“I hope I never have to go through something like that again,” he said. “The worst thing is losing close friends to another church. The good thing is it has energized many of us who stayed, and I think we have an increased renewal in our spirituality.”

Peebles saw Etheridge in many community roles over the years. “He was always gracious and humble in the way he carried himself, but he was also a very smart man.”

Etheridge is survived by his wife of 47 years, Jane; daughter Alison Hackney, son-in-law Hoyt Hackney and grandchildren Elizabeth Jane and John Hoyt Hackney of Charlotte; and son Frank Etheridge IV of New Orleans and Columbus.

Staff writer Tony Adams contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Banker Frank Etheridge was ‘mild in his tone, but powerful in his impact’."