Virginia CU Figure Dick Williams Passes

ROANOKE, Va. – Richard “Dick” Williams, who built Member One FCU from just $2.8 million in assets to $355 million during a 26-year-career as CEO, died Thursday of cancer at 70.

Williams' career with Member One began in1972, when he was hired to be the first chief executive at Norfolk & Western credit union. Norfolk & Western was the first credit union in the state to offer checking accounts.

When he took the job, there were just a few employees working in an old passenger train station that is now the O. Winston Link Museum. Today, the credit union has about 180 employees and a dozen branches. During the 1990s he helped establish student-run branches at area high schools.

He retired from the credit union in 2008.

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