William Randolph "Randy" Adams died on January 14, 2009, of pancreatic cancer. Born in Cleveland on August 5, 1944, and raised in Cincinnati, he came to Dartmouth from Mariemont High School, where he was Class President and co-captain of both the football and tennis teams. A brother of Kappa Sigma, he majored in government and urban affairs. Randy left Dartmouth after the fall term in 1963. He lived and worked in Nashville, Tennessee until the fall of 1965, when he returned to Dartmouth and graduated. In the spring of 1968 he joined the Navy, attended Officer Candidate School in Newport and, after getting married in September, was stationed in Guam until 1970. He then enrolled and earned his masters degree in municipal planning at Syracuse. His next step was to enroll at Tuck School, where he graduated 2nd in his class in 1974. Randy was extremely proud of his Dartmouth degrees.
Randy (C) with Wally Buschmann (L)
and Jack Brister (R) in Sept. 2008
He was best known in his hometown of St. Louis as the President and Executive Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from August 2001 to August 2007. As his obituary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, "Mr. Adams did not have a typical orchestra president's resume. He was not a musician, and he didn't work his way up through the ranks with smaller orchestras before taking over one of the world's great ensembles. Instead, he came from a background of 25 years in banking and as a management consultant. That gave him the confidence of St. Louis business people at a time when the SLSO was close to bankruptcy. He led a major financial restructuring of the organization, increasing its endowment to $125 million from $18 million and attracting gifts for physical improvements to Powell Symphony Hall. Mr. Adams also helped to attract David Robertson as the orchestra's music director."
He worked for 17 years for a management consulting firm in Chicago, coming to Mercantile Bank in St. Louis in 1991 with his then-wife, Peggy, and two children. In 1995, he became chief executive of Mercantile Bank of St. Louis and executive vice president of Mercantile Bancorp. He helped oversee the merger of Mercantile and Firstar (now U.S. Bancorp) in 1999-2000.
Randy served on the boards of numerous St. Louis-area civic and charitable organizations. He is survived by two adult children, William Duff "Duffy" Adams and Jessica M. Adams.
I was so shocked to learn of our class president's death. It is a very sad thing, but I am very impressed with all his accomplishments. Patty Turner Pendergrass
Carolyn Ash
William Randolph "Randy" Adams
Randy (C) with Wally Buschmann (L)
and Jack Brister (R) in Sept. 2008
He was best known in his hometown of St. Louis as the President and Executive Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from August 2001 to August 2007. As his obituary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, "Mr. Adams did not have a typical orchestra president's resume. He was not a musician, and he didn't work his way up through the ranks with smaller orchestras before taking over one of the world's great ensembles. Instead, he came from a background of 25 years in banking and as a management consultant. That gave him the confidence of St. Louis business people at a time when the SLSO was close to bankruptcy. He led a major financial restructuring of the organization, increasing its endowment to $125 million from $18 million and attracting gifts for physical improvements to Powell Symphony Hall. Mr. Adams also helped to attract David Robertson as the orchestra's music director."
He worked for 17 years for a management consulting firm in Chicago, coming to Mercantile Bank in St. Louis in 1991 with his then-wife, Peggy, and two children. In 1995, he became chief executive of Mercantile Bank of St. Louis and executive vice president of Mercantile Bancorp. He helped oversee the merger of Mercantile and Firstar (now U.S. Bancorp) in 1999-2000.
Randy served on the boards of numerous St. Louis-area civic and charitable organizations. He is survived by two adult children, William Duff "Duffy" Adams and Jessica M. Adams.
Patricia-Lou Turner (Pendergrass)
I was so shocked to learn of our class president's death. It is a very sad thing, but I am very impressed with all his accomplishments. Patty Turner Pendergrass