Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Bill was born on May 25, 1932, in Bremen, Kentucky.
He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1954, majoring in Business Administration and Economics.
Bill later received an MBA Degree in 1958 from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance and Banking.
Bill entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant and completed two years of active duty in 1956.
How did Bill Gatton make his money?
Bill Gatton made his fortune through several businesses including real estate, banking, auto sales and investing.
He established his first automobile dealership in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1959 and sold that business in 1965.
Bill has owned automobile dealerships in all three cities of the Tri-Cities, Lexington, Kentucky, Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee, Huntsville, Alabama and Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
Gatton purchased the Chevrolet and Cadillac franchises in Bristol, Tennessee and moved there in 1967.
In 1981, he formed Area Bancshares of Owensboro, which grew to become the largest bank holding company headquartered in Kentucky, owning 17 banks with 65 branch offices across the state.
Area Bancshares had $3 billion in assets when he sold it to BB&T in 2002.