Leslie Waggener

Leslie Waggener, Jr., lawyer and banker, was born in Russellville, Kentucky, on December 4, 1876, the son of Fannie (Pendleton) and Leslie Waggener. He moved to Texas in 1883, when his father began working as part of the first faculty of the University of Texas. His father eventually became the first president of the university and died two years before Waggener received his LL.B. degree from the university in 1898. Immediately after graduation Waggener moved to Dallas, where he began a law practice that he continued until 1915.

In January 1900 he married Annie Venable Nelson. They had three children. In 1906 Waggener had begun his career in commercial banking by helping organize the Texas Farm Mortgage Company. He remained active with the company until 1924, when he was elected vice president of Republic Trust and Savings Bank and director of the Republic National Bank. When the banks merged in 1929 as Republic National Bank and Trust Company, he became executive vice president. In 1931 he became the chairman of the executive committee and in 1945 the chairman of the board, a post he held until his death.

During World War II he served as a civilian member of the V-12 navy college training program. Waggener was director of the Southwestern Life Insurance Company, the Texas Employers Insurance Association, Employers Casualty Company, the National City Bank of Dallas, and the Oak Cliff Bank and Trust Company. He was a member of the University of Texas Board of Regents from 1931, when he was appointed by Governor Ross Sterling, until his resignation in 1942. He was chairman of the finance committee from 1931 to 1941, when he became chairman of the board. He was an honorary life member and president of the Texas State Historical Association, a member of the Texas Folklore Society, a trustee of the Dallas Historical Society and the Dallas Art Association, and treasurer for the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (now the Dallas Museum of Art). He was a Democrat and served the Episcopalian Church as a vestryman.

Shortly after suffering a heart attack at the Cotton Bowl game on January 1, 1951, Waggener died at Baylor Hospital. He is buried at Hillcrest Mausoleum, Dallas.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 16 2023, 2:13:26 UTC