Fleming, Sam M., 1908-2000

Sam M. Fleming was born Apr. 29, 1908, in Franklin, Tennessee. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1928, and in 1931 began work at Third National Bank in Nashville. He became president of the bank in 1950 and held that position until his retirement in 1970. He served on Vanderbilt's Board of Trust from 1952 until 1981, and was its chairman from 1975 to 1981. As chairman, he played an important role in the merger of Vanderbilt and George Peabody College for Teachers in 1979. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Owen Graduate School of Management in 1969 and of Blair School of Music in 1981. He was a great patron of Vanderbilt's Library, donating a number of important Bibles from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and endowing the Sam Fleming Southern Civilization Collection in Special Collections. He died on Jan. 21, 2000.