Financial History Issue 126 (Summer 2018) | Page 21
“Way, way back, there was an emphasis on quality and
integrity and on running a first-class investment business.
Families became attached to us, and now we have sixth
generations doing business with us in some cases.”
— Henning Hilliard, 1979
from the firm in 1952 and died in 1967.
Edward Hobbs Hilliard retired from the
firm in 1953. Henning became managing
partner in 1954 and remained so until 1971.
During Henning’s tenure, J.J.B. Hilliard
& Son merged with W.L. Lyons & Co. in
1965. The new firm was called J.J.B. Hill-
iard, W.L. Lyons, and Henning became
managing partner. Isaac Hilliard died in
1970, the same year that Marion Cardwell
retired. Cardwell died in 1974.
J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons (1965)
The history of W.L. Lyons & Co. dates
back to the firm of Quigley and Lyons,
which was founded in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, in 1854 with partners Thomas Quig-
ley (Edward P. Quigley’s father), Henry J.
Lyons and Henry Clay Morton, who later
became a partner in Hunt & Morton with
A.D. Hunt, one of J.J.B. Hilliard & Son’s
predecessors. According to The Courier-
Journal, the firm dealt “in gold shares and
whiskey receipts.” During the Civil War,
the partnership was dissolved over differ-
ences in Civil War allegiances. Lyons, who
supported the Confederacy, founded the
firm of Henry J. Lyons and Co.
After Lyons died in 1867, his son,
William Lee Lyons, renamed the firm
W.L. Lyons & Co. In 1878, W.L. Lyons
became a member of the New York Stock
Exchange. In the 1900s, the Lyons fam-
ily established itself in New York City,
though branch offices remained in the
South, where it engaged in cotton broker-
age. Around 1904, the firm was renamed
Goldsmith, Wolf & Lyons for partners
Frederick T. Goldsmith, Theodore Wolf,
Harry J. Lyons and W.L. Lyons. In 1911,
the third generation of the family, W.L.
Lyons Jr., joined the firm as a partner.
In 1942, W.L. Lyons had actually sold
their firm to Merrill Lynch, but “after [the]
expiration of a non-competition agree-
ment, [the family re-entered] the broker-
age business.” In 1952, the firm moved
its headquarters back to Louisville and
refocused its interests in securities broker-
age. By 1969, J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons
had eight offices in Kentucky, 15 general
partners, three special partners and a capi-
tal of about $1.5 million. In 1972, the firm
became a corporation. By that point, the
firm was called Hilliard Lyons for short.
J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, Inc. (1972)
After the firm became a corporation, Hen-
ning Hilliard became chairman. In 1979,
Henning said, “Way, way back, there was
an emphasis on quality and integrity and on
running a first-class investment business.
Families became attached to us, and now
we have sixth generations doing business
with us in some cases.” According to The
Courier-Journal, “The firm [continued] to
be ‘old line’ in the sense that it still [devoted]
the bulk of its resources to an estimated
75,000 individual investment accounts. In
an era when many investment firms give
lip service to individuals but room service
to large, institutional investors, the policy of
Hilliard, Lyons is refreshing.”
Henning stepped down as chairman
in 1982 and retired as senior executive
in 1986. When he retired, he was the last
member of the Hilliard and Lyons families
to be active in the firm.
Gilbert L. Pamplin succeeded Henning
as president and CEO in 1982. Pamplin
was a graduate of duPont Manual High
School. In 1949, he joined J.J.B. Hilliard
& Son as a clerk and became a partner in
1966. In 1988, Pamplin was succeeded as
president by William W. Crawford, who
also became COO. Crawford had been a
partner of W.L. Lyons & Co. since 1964.
He stepped down in 1993 and retired in
1995. Pamplin also fully retired that year.
They were succeeded by James W. Stuck-
ert, who was named chairman, president
and CEO. He had started with W.L. Lyons
& Co. and became a partner in 1968.
He was named vice chairman of Hilliard
Lyons in 1995.
PNC Financial Services Group (1998)
In 1998, the firm was bought by PNC
Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. In 2008, PNC Financial
Services group transferred ownership of
the firm to Hilliard Lyons’ employees and
Houchens Industries, Inc., a firm in Bowl-
ing Green, Kentucky, where it continues
in the field of wealth management.
Susie J. Pak is an Associate Professor in
the Department of History at St. John’s
University (New York). A graduate of
Dartmouth College and Cornell Uni-
versity, she is the author of Gentlemen
Bankers: The World of J.P. Morgan
(Harvard University Press), a Trustee of
the Business History Conference, co-chair
of the Columbia University Economic
History Seminar and a member of the
editorial advisory board of the Business
History Review. She is also a member
of the Financial History editorial board.
About This Series The “Where Are They
Now?” Series traces the origins and histo-
ries of 207 of the underwriters of the 1956
Ford Motor Company IPO. The research
for this series has been generously funded
by Charles Royce of The Royce Funds.
www.MoAF.org | Summer 2018 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 19