October 23, 1911

W. B. Worthen died after a short illness. Upon his death, the Arkansas Democrat editorialized that “some of the largest and most important financial transactions of the State were engineered and executed by Mr. Worthen…with unswerving integrity and honesty of purpose.” Worthen was a banker in Arkansas from 1874 until his death, and he also wrote a history of Arkansas banking. The bank he founded survived recessions and the Great Depression, becoming the largest bank holding company in the state, until its acquisition by Boatmen’s Bank in 1994. It then became part of Bank of America.