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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 2001
June 18, 1935: Hugh Leon McColl Jr. is born, the son of a fourth-generation banker in Bennettsville, S.C.
1957: McColl earns a degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
September 1959: After a two-year stint with the Marines, McColl begins working at American Commercial Bank in Charlotte, N.C., a forerunner of Bank of America Corp. Later that year, he marries Jane Spratt, daughter of a prominent lawyer.
1960: After a merger with a Greensboro bank, American Commercial becomes North Carolina National Bank, or NCNB.
1967: McColl, then a vice president at NCNB, tells his boss, Tom Storrs, that some top executives are trying to stage a coup against him. Within hours, the conspirators are fired.
1972: NCNB overtakes Wachovia Corp., becoming the biggest bank in the Southeast.
1981: McColl pioneers interstate banking, dubbing the company's first foray into Florida "Operation Overlord" after the Normandy invasion. But he loses out on the big bank he was trying to buy, Florida National, and settles for First National Bank of Lake City.
1982: NCNB enters Florida by closing on the First National Bank deal in January and follows up with the purchase of Exchange Bancorp. of Tampa.
November 1983: McColl becomes chairman and CEO of NCNB.
1985-88: NCNB enters Georgia, South Carolina and Maryland in a succession of ever-larger deals.
August 1988: McColl prods NCNB to seize a large share of the Texas banking market, bailing out FirstRepublic Bank of Dallas.
1991: McColl's first $100-billion deal, buying C&S/Sovran and entering the Virginia and Tennessee markets.
1995: McColl is thwarted in a first attempt to buy BankAmerica Corp. of San Francisco because he wants to keep control in Charlotte for the long term.
January 1996: McColl and several proteges survive a harrowing forced landing of a private Gulfstream jet in Washington, D.C.
October 1996: McColl's bank, now called NationsBank, buys Boatmen's Bancshares for $186-billion.
1997: NationsBank expands into investment banking with acquisition of Montgomery Securities of San Francisco.
Aug. 29, 1997: McColl gets the blessing of his board at NationsBank to buy Florida's largest bank, Barnett Banks, for $15.5-billion and is inspired to write a memo to himself boasting that "now I own the state." NationsBank controls more than a fourth of all deposits in Florida.
April 1998: NationsBank announces "merger of equals" with BankAmerica of San Francisco, creating the country's first coast-to-coast bank. McColl later solidifies power in Charlotte when BankAmerica chief David Coulter resigns after a heavy hedge fund loss.
October 1998: NationsBank struggles to bring the technology and staff of Barnett's massive branch network in Florida into the NationsBank family. McColl apologizes to Floridians for a breakdown in customer service. Separately, the merged BankAmerica and NationsBank pick Bank of America as the company's new brand name.
October 1999: McColl steps down from day-to-day operations in a precursor to his retirement. He is paid $76-million, mostly in stock and options, making him the most highly paid head of a U.S. bank.
2000: Bank of America struggles through a slowing economy, a dry up in its auto leasing unit and an increase in problem loans. It closes the fourth quarter by posting a 27 percent drop in profits.
Jan. 24, 2001: McColl announces his retirement effective April 25. His hand-picked successor, president Kenneth Lewis, is endorsed by the Bank of America board.