Bivins, George

Banker, sportsman George Bivins Jr. dies

Services will be at 11 this morning at Otter Creek Church of Christ for George E. Bivins, Jr., a prominent Middle Tennessee banker and sportsman knowns as “Buddy” to his friends. Mr. Bivins, seventy-six, died Wednesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“He was a real gentleman,” Barbara Fleming, who worked for sixteen years with Mr. Bivins at Williamson County Bank, said yesterday. “He lived up to his nickname, but he also was always very professional. I am going to miss him.”

Survivors include his wife, Maxine Luther Bivins of Brentwood; daughters Karen Fuqua and Lisa Bruce; sisters Dorothy Bennyworth and Mary Francis Thompson; a brother, William Bivins; and four grandchildren. Mr. Bivins was a graduate of David Lipscomb College and the Rutgers University School of Banking. He also was a World War II veteran who fought with the Marines on Okinawa.

A former vice president of Third National Bank, Mr. Bivins became president and chairman of Williamson County Bank in 1974. He retired in 1990 as co- chairman of the bank, which by that time had become NationsBank.

Mr. Bivins also was a founding member of the Golf Club of Tennessee and former president of Bluegrass Country Club and the Tennessee Bankers Association. He was a former chairman of O’More School of Design and served on the boards of the Girl Scouts of America, Harpeth Academy, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Battle Ground Academy.

Mr. Bivins was a member of Otter Creek Church of Christ and Brentwood Country Club. Woodlawn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

TheTennessee Banker, August 1988…98th Annual Convention…a portion of “Bivins Reports on Past Year”

George Bivins delivered his presidential report to the convention during the first general business session. This was the first full year the association staff had been housed in the new headquarters building, and Bivins reported that office space in the building had been leased to the American Institute of Banking and to Beem Consultants on Insurance. He explained that the 1987-88 board of directors had called for the development of a strategic plan to guide association activities during the next few years. The plan will help bankers “preserve and protect their investment” in the TBA. According to Bivins, planning was well underway with the first draft to be presented to the board meeting shortly following convention. Next, Bivins discussed BancInsure and the Tennessee Bankers Insurance Service. The TBA subsidiary is a banker-owned, banker-controlled captive insurance company. TBA is one of twelve state bankers associations which own BancInsure….In closing, Bivins made an appeal to bankers attending the session: “Banks must decide whether to change or die. Accepting change is one thing; adapting to change is another.” He asked that bankers be willing to accept and adapt to changes in the industry.