Lexington, KY - While business accolades could tout the mountain of growth Sam Barnes oversaw in his 17 years with Fifth Third in Lexington, the bank president will be long remembered by his friends for his belief and work in the community.
"Sam was one of our more engaged civic leaders here," said Jim Clark, president and CEO of LexArts. "He really understood how important the arts were to the community and that it was good business to be involved in the arts. But more than that he was always a great cheerleader for us."
Barnes, 63, died Tuesday while swimming off Saint Simons Island, in Georgia, where he was vacationing with his family in advance of his son's wedding that was scheduled to take place on the island this weekend, said Brant Welch, marketing director for Fifth Third in Lexington.
"He was really apologetic before he went because he hated to miss (the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships)," a tennis tournament he helped found that is going on this week, Welch said.
"When we were still really actually new to the area, Sam got on board and that event has been great for us with name recognition, and to have touch points with customers and it really grew over the years. And I know that Sam really loved that event. To my knowledge this is the first year he wasn't there, but he had a really good excuse, I know he was really excited about Bryan getting married this weekend."
Barnes came to Lexington in 1993 from Atlanta where he served as an SVP and regional manager for British banking giant Barclays. Barnes took over the area Fifth Third operation just three years after it came into the market with a single location in Paris.
"Under Sam's leadership we grew from essentially just a handful of banks in Paris and the Lexington area to now 19 banking centers," Welch said. "We never had a major acquisition but organically grew to have 19 banking centers in an eight county area and have 250 employees and in the Lexington (market) we're a top three market-share leader. Sam is really the leader and driving force behind all the success the bank has had here."
Barnes put the same tenacity he used running the bank to working with the community. He served as a board member or president of at least 26 organizations listed in his biography including the United Way, LexArts, University of Kentucky Business Partnership Foundation, Transylvania University, the Urban League, the Downtown Lexington Corporation (DLC), both Commerce Lexington and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Camp Horsin' Around and the 2010 World Games Foundation.
"He's got to be given a great deal of credit and acknowledgment as a very accomplished banker," said Stoll Keenon Ogden Managing Partner David Smith. "And more impressive really is what he did in the community and particularly as a transplant in a very short period of time."
Barnes is a native of Fulton, Mo., where he graduated from Westminster College before getting an MBA from Baldwin Wallace in Ohio and completing the ABA School of International Banking at the University of Colorado.
Smith, whose legal practice centered around the banking industry before going into management at his firm, dined with Barnes and his wife Sue during their first week in Lexington. "He would be on a very short list of people that you would mention in terms of most involved in the community and the civic and charitable fabric of Lexington," he said.
That was fully evident this spring when Barnes cut the ribbon on the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion at Cheapside Park, directly across Main Street from his bank's offices.
"I know that Sam played a major role in securing that money and I feel like that pavilion is going to be his legacy to the community," said DLC President Renee Jackson. "The morning he told me we got the money, you could tell how happy he was about that."
Jackson said if not for Barnes' efforts and the $750,000 Fifth Third donated to the DLC foundation for the glass and steel pavilion, Lexington may have never seen what has become a centerpiece of downtown since opening in April.
"Sam never hesitated to contribute to our community, both personally and through his leadership at Fifth Third Bank," Mayor Jim Newberry said in a statement. "Today, our community lost a great business leader, a great civic leader, and a great man. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, colleagues and all of those whose lives have been touched by Sam."
Just last week the second installment of LexArts' Horse Mania had dozens of artistic fiberglass horses installed around the downtown, and Clark said it was an idea of Barnes' that got more of the community involved in the public art project.
"He was the one that helped us develop the idea of Horse Play to get the schools involved with Horse Mania. So in a way Horse Play is going to be our tribute to Sam, we will dedicate it to Sam and all that he did for the community," he said. "That is a real fitting alignment there because it's something that has had a real positive impact on the community and it is going to help generate funds for arts education, so I think Sam would be happy with that."
Barnes received an honorable discharge as a part of the US Army Infantry where he rose the rank of First Lieutenant. The leadership he demonstrated with Fifth Third, according to Smith, helped make his bank and his adopted city what they are today.
"(What he did was) good for the area, particularly these days as when so many young professionals choose a city to live in first and then a job, unlike it was in my generation. That further puts a highlight on terms of how important it is to have the cultural and artistic foundation in a community from a business perspective in terms of attracting quality talents. And Sam certainly knew that," Smith said.
"Sam had a personal interest in the arts, which I think a lot of people lose sight of. It's not in my judgment sustainable if businesses support the arts financially in terms of the feel good or the business development reasons. What really makes it happen I think are business leaders like Sam who have a personal interest and a passion for the arts. Sam was good about admonishing and educating and exhorting his troops to do that," Smith said. "Those are damn big shoes to fill in terms of his leadership in the cultural community."
Barnes is survived by his wife, Sue, sons Bryan and Sam, Jr. and two grandchildren.
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