
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995                   TAG: 9508090065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BANK EXECUTIVE H. CLAY FERGUSON DIES AT AGE 80

H. Clay Ferguson Jr., former First National Exchange Bank executive, award-winning advertising director and baritone singer, died Tuesday. He was 80.

In 1955, Ferguson became director of advertising for FNEB, the bank that became Dominion Bank and eventually was taken over by First Union National Bank.

Just two years later, he was named assistant vice president. He retired from the bank in 1980.

He earlier worked for Stone Printing Co. for 19 years.

Ferguson was a three-time winner of the Silver Medal Award of the Roanoke chapter of the American Advertising Federation.

He was a native of Vinton and never really left the Roanoke area except for a few years in the U.S. Air Force. A member of the board of deacons of the First Baptist Church in Roanoke, he taught the men's Bible class for many years.

Ferguson also was a singer with what one reporter called a "rich baritone voice." He performed on radio and television and as a soloist in churches.

by CNB