Jim L. Hughes' Obituary
On Friday morning, September 8th, 2023, Jimmie L. Hughes of Memphis, TN passed away in hospice with his loved ones by his side.
Born Dec 6th, 1941, in Doddsville, MS, Jim was the son of Charles Hughes, a soybean and cotton farmer, and Thelma Jackson Hughes, head of the English Dept at Mississippi Delta Junior college. His early years were spent growing up on his family’s farm with his younger sister Frieda. He learned what hard work was at an early age, spending much of his time on a tractor harvesting crops on the farm.
After attending Mississippi State, Jim met the love of his life and wife of 58 years, Peggy Trotter. They soon married on August 21st, 1965. Jim and his new bride moved to Memphis, TN, to start a family and build his career in investment banking. They raised two beautiful children, Tiffani and Jason.
Jim got his first career break when Duncan Williams hired him as a bond salesman in the First Tennessee Bank Bond Division. He gratefully took this opportunity and devoted his life to his work. He and Peggy spent many of their early ambitious years driving out to East TN to meet with any bankers willing to give him a chance and a bit of experience. Jim paid his dues for many years, learning the bond business from the ground up, his loyal wife by his side.
Jim was a highly motivated competitor in the investment banking industry. Within just a few years he became the top producer on the fixed income sales floor, and by 1969 he was promoted to sales manager. This department was known as The Bond Division, then Capital Markets, later FTN Financial, and currently FHN Financial.
In 1991 Jim became president of First Tennessee Capital Markets. This is when the company really took off, growing from 20 or so employees to over 1000. The growth Jim created was not only with employees, but in expanding the business in many directions, opening branches in Chicago, Kansas City, New York, Dallas, Mobile and many other places servicing financial institutions locally and nationally. He also developed a thriving international business.
He was constantly working to innovate, developing new products and strategies which put the bank in a dominating position in government agency debt underwriting. The bank’s underwriting success often topped the efforts of all the big Wall Street banks.
Always the motivator, Jim knew that a rising tide lifts all boats. He spent much time and effort to instill confidence and a competitive spirit among the many professionals at FHN, and he was open minded about whom he hired. He only required hard work, confidence, and drive, no matter who you were. Through his leadership efforts, countless investment bankers achieved success they could only have dreamed of. This success has trickled down to generations who will also achieve greatness. He had an extraordinarily positive effect on local, national and international commerce that produced great results for the employees whom he loved.
Jim was a great man with an infectious sense of humor. He was fiercely loyal to his family, friends, employees and to FHN Financial. He was also generous with his financial success, contributing regularly to many causes, including education, healthcare and social welfare.
Jim leaves behind his family who have learned so much from his strong values, ambitious spirit and sense of integrity. They will go forward in life wiser, kinder and stronger because of his influence on each one of them. He is survived by his wife Peggy, children Tiffani Gross and Jason Hughes, son-in-law Aaron Gross, daughter-in- law Robyn Hughes, sister Frieda Inmon, brother-in- law Butch Inmon, and his grandchildren Jackson, Palmer and Brady Hughes, Eva and Mason Gross. They will all miss him dearly.
A service memorializing the life of Jim Hughes will be held at Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Avenue in Memphis, TN, at 10:00 am on Thursday, September 28th, 2023, in the Riverside Chapel. A Memorial Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service from 9:00 am to 10:00 am.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Palmer Home for Children (palmerhome.org), and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (stjude.org).
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