Lawrence Butler Wales, Jr., was a Norfolk native. He was born 12/6/22 & raised in Norfolk. He died 1/4/16 at 93. His family were bankers in Norfolk since before the Civil War. They moved to Norfolk from Braintree, Mass., before the Revolution and traced their roots to France during the Norman Conquest. He was a “senator among men,” in the classical sense.
He and his wife Nancy Ganzel raised 4 sons: Mark, Peter, Larry and David on Cavalier Drive in Virginia Beach. Since 1979 they’ve resided at their oceanfront apartment on 38th Street. He is survived by his wife, 3 sons and 8 grandchildren: L.B., Bennett, Marla Sydney, Beckett, Sarah, Pete, Amy, and Kayla.
Athletically, he earned varsity letters in track from Maury High School, VMI and Washington & Lee University Law School; won All South East Conference honors in hurdles; played some collegiate football & boxed in the U.S. Navy, briefly; was an avid surf & boat fisherman, duck hunter & expert golfer. Equally gifted in the arts, he was a wildlife painter (oils & water color), carver & photographer. He loved traveling to Rome with his wife. He was a student of Roman and Greek art, architecture & history & collected artifacts, antiques, fine paintings, etchings, drawings and vintage books.
Socially, he was a director of the Princes Anne Country Club for many years, an Episcopalian all his life & served the Galilee Episcopal Church as Sunday school teacher & Superintendent, on their vestry and assisted the Bishop for the Southern Diocese of Virginia for many years.
Militarily, he served in the Navy 4 years on separate tours of active duty, in the Pacific during World War II and then in the Korean War; then served in the USN reserves for 18 years. Academically, he earned a B.A. from Virginia Military Institute & his LLB from W & L University Law School in 1948.
After that he went into the export business in New Orleans; and then began his career in the brokerage business in 1949 when he joined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and became a registered member of the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1954 he opened J. C. Wheat & Cos.’s first Norfolk office, and was the first Norfolk native to become a resident partner of a member NYSE firm in Norfolk. While there he developed an interest in municipal financing.
In 1976 at age 53, he left Wheat & Co., and co-founded Municipal Advisors, Inc. He wrote and sold the bonds that financed the City of Virginia Beach Expressway, aka the “Toll Road,” Westminster Canterbury, both buildings and Chesapeake Municipal Center Courthouse, as well as many other municipal & commercial projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic. He sold the company and retired in his 80s.
A private family funeral will be held at Galilee Episcopal Church and memorial donations may be made to Boy’s Home, Inc., Covington, VA.
Condolences for the family may be left at hdoliver.com.
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