J. Alton Wingate, 66, a supermarket branch pioneer and a community banker for more than 40 years, is dead.
He died Tuesday of cancer at his home, in Cornelia, Ga.
Mr. Wingate was the first to license the in-store branch concept. He helped many banks set up thousands of branches inside grocery stores.
He founded Financial Supermarkets Inc. 21 years ago and was its chairman, president, and chief executive. He held the same titles at the $890 million-asset Community Bankshares Inc. in Cornelius, which owns it and three banks, in Georgia and Alabama.
Mr. Wingate was a former president of the Georgia Bankers Association and a former chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors' bank advisory council.
Branches of Community's largest subsidiary, the $727 million-asset Community Bank and Trust, were closed for a half day Thursday while employees attended Mr. Wingate's funeral.
