Community cornerstone Sam M. Sicard has died (Updated)

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additions throughout.

story by Michael Tilley
[email protected]

Sam M. Sicard, president of First National Bank of Fort Smith, died Sunday morning (Aug. 7) following a heart attack while attending St. Boniface church.

He was 70.

Sicard was elected president of the large regional bank holding company in 1977 and eventually added the title of bank board chairman.

During his tenure, the bank saw remarkable growth. In 1989, the bank was formed into a holding company — First Bank Corp. — and acquired National Bank of Sallisaw, Citizens Bank & Trust of Van Buren, Bank of Rogers and Brown-Hiller-Clark & Associates.

For many decades, Sam Sicard and the Sicard family have been deeply involved in the socio-economic development of the Fort Smith Region. Sicard has been a leader and/or served on numerous boards and fundraiser efforts, including the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Marshals Museum Board of Directors, Central Business Improvement District, Fort Smith Boys & Girls Club, United Way of Fort Smith Area and governing boards associated with Westark College and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

That support included a $500,000 donation from the bank holding company in November 2009 to help a $50 million fundraising effort by the U.S. Marshals Museum.

‘BETTER PLACE’
Sam’s son, Sam T. Sicard, confirmed the passing of his father, and early Sunday afternoon sent an e-mail to bank employees notifying them of the sudden loss of their bank president.

“I am just grateful he didn’t suffer, and I believe he is in a better place,” Sam T. Sicard said Sunday afternoon during a brief interview. He added that his father apparently slumped over quietly and died while attending church with his wife, Sharon.

Sam T. Sicard, executive vice president of First National Bank, said his father underwent a heart bypass surgery when he was 54, and that he felt lucky to have had his father around for so many years following the surgery. He said he and his father had grown close during the previous 13-plus years working together at the bank. He would often join his father on Sunday to talk about business, politics and sports.

“When you’ve worked with your father for the last 13 years … not only do you have a relationship as a father and son, but you have a close working relationship. It’s going to be a very big change for me,” Sam T. Sicard said.

COMMUNITY CORNERSTONE
Fred Williams said the region has “lost a cornerstone of the community.” Williams, president of Williams-Crawford, a Fort Smith-based advertising agency that has for many years included the bank as a client, said Sicard did more to help the region than anyone will know because Sicard often refused to take credit or let anyone know what he had done.

“He did so many things, and he really didn’t want anyone to know about most of them. He just really believed in helping his fellow man, and he did it every day of his life,” Williams said.

When Williams’ son Jackson died at an early age, Williams said Sicard was one of the first to reach out to him. Sicard also suffered personal losses. His wife died in May 2001 and he lost his daughter a few years after that.

“He was an unbelievable man. He was a true, true friend and a very gracious man,” Williams said. “Fort Smith lost a great man today.”

Craig Rivaldo, president of Arvest Bank-Fort Smith region, said Sicard was deeply respected by all bankers.

“The contributions he made to this community were enormous, no doubt. He will certainly be missed. It’s a sad day for Fort Smith,” Rivaldo said.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders said Sicard had a level of influence in the community that will prove difficult to replace.

“Fort Smith lost a real champion who was a very quiet leader, but extremely influential. He did so many things to help Fort Smith grow and develop. He did things both personally and professional through the bank. We’re really going to miss Sam,” Sanders said.

SICARD HISTORY
Sam M. Sicard was born into a family that began banking in Fort Smith in 1872.

Sicard’s father, McCloud Sicard, was bank president between 1942 and 1977. McCloud Sicard suffered a stroke in in 1969, which pushed a 29-year-old Sam M. Sicard into the role of executive vice president. Sam M. had just graduated a few years earlier (1963) with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas.

“(W)ith the help and guidance from a lot of senior officers who had been with the bank for a number of years, my education was speeded up somewhat,” Sicard said during an early 2001 interview for a Times Record story.

Prior to his leadership role, Sicard had worked was the bank’s mail boy, helped open new accounts, accounting and working commercial loans.

During that early 2001 interview, Sicard said his strengths include being a good listener and being open to new ideas and opinions. He cited public speaking as a weakness.

Another strength was his ability to keep the bank together and growing. During the 1990s and early part of the previous decade, bank acquisitions were numerous. First Bank Corp. certainly fit the description of a healthy regional bank operation that the larger banks were buying up in what at times appeared to be a financial arms race.

Sicard admitted in the 2001 interview that the bank had many suitors, but never took the bait of a big sell.

“It’s just been the belief of the ownership and the board and myself that … we feel we can continue to compete and provide a good service to our customers. … We have no plans to sell,” Sicard said in the Times Record story.