Lewis P. Thomas
Life-time banker Lewis Preston Thomas graduated from Salem High School in 1933; Roanoke College in 1937 with a B. S. Degree in Business Administration, followed in 1952 with completed studies at Rutgers Graduate School of Banking and in 1961 with Advanced Management Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business.
Staying with the same bank which changed its name several times from Bank of Virginia to its present SIGNET, from 1937 to the present--nearly sixty years--Lewis Preston Thomas has risen from checking bookkeeper to teller, to cashier, to Senior Vice President and in 1972 was named Chairman of the Board of Bank of Virginia-Roanoke Valley. He has served as Group Vice President of the Bank of Virginia Company as well as Director of its installations in Lynchburg, Danville, Pulaski, and Roanoke Valley, as well as the Bank Virginia Credit Card Company.
Thomas has been Director and Secretary-Treasurer of five local corporations: Thomas Bros.; Sawyer-Thomas; Salem Ready-Mix Concrete; Salem Concrete Products; and CST Development, while also serving as Director of Westclub. He has served in official capacity on 35 local community endeavors from YMCA, Better Business Bureau, Roanoke Lions Club, Roanoke Symphony Society, Downtown Roanoke to farther-reaching area efforts: Trustee of Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Virginia, and Director of Appalachian National Corporation, Commonwealth Discount Association and The Insurance Company of Delaware.
Lewis’s only break from banking cane during World War II when he served from October 1942 to November 1945 as pilot, flight instructor, and military transport pilot in the Southwest Pacific, being discharged as a First Lieutenant. He is married to Minnie King Bass Thomas. Their children are Lewis Preston Thomas, Jr. and Horace Bass Thomas. The Thomas family lives in the Southwest section of Roanoke. Lewis is a past member of the Board of Deacons of Cavalry Baptist Church but is now a member of Second Presbyterian Church, both in Roanoke City.
Thomas serves on the Advisory Council of Group V, Virginia Bankers Association and is a member of the Federal Legislative Committee of the Virginia Bankers Association.
In recognition of his outstanding career achievements, in 1996 Lewis Preston Thomas was among the charter members inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association.
