Business Hall of Famer Dr. Lee Bodenhamer dies at 90
by February 22, 2025 10:41 am 595 views
Dr. Lee Bodenhamer passed away Feb. 20, 2025, at the age of 90. In 2008, Bodenhamer was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame after a career in insurance and investment management.
Bodenhamer earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1957 and his master’s degree in business adminisration in 1961 from the University of Arkansas, followed by a doctorate in finance from Harvard Business School in 1968.
While at Harvard, he taught as a faculty member and pioneered the development of commercial variable annuity investment products. Ultimately, he returned to Arkansas where he founded the First Variable Life Insurance Company in Little Rock.
In 1977, he established Meridian Management Company, where he served as president and built it into a successful investment management firm.
Bodenhamer used his financial success to create in 1998 Bodenhamer Fellowships at the University of Arkansas. The fellowships are a prestigious scholarship program that has provided full tuition and study abroad opportunities to 174 scholars since its inception. This program aims to retain Arkansas’s brightest students — now and into the future — while fostering a strong sense of community and contribution.
He was born in 1934 in El Dorado to the late O.L. and Irene Bodenhamer, but was raised by his widowed mother.
His philanthropy reached public health, education, and conservation initiatives. He played a pivotal role in establishing The Nature Conservancy’s Rattlesnake Ridge Natural Preserve in Central Arkansas, ensuring its protection and accessibility for the public. Bodenhamer also served on numerous boards, focusing on health care, higher education, technology, and the Sigma Chi fraternity.
A video of his life from the UA Walton College of Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony can be viewed below.