William Hayden McIlroy Jr., a Dallas real estate investor and Fayetteville bank owner, died Sunday (April 19). He sold McIlroy Bank to Arvest Bank in 1986 before moving to Dallas, where he became involved in real estate investments. He was 86.
He was born Nov. 22, 1939, in Fayetteville. He attended the University of Arkansas and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1962. Before he graduated, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was 21 when he joined McIlroy Bank as a teller shortly after his father died. Hayden McIlroy spent 25 years at the bank, working his way through various departments before becoming chairman and CEO.
McIlroy Bank had assets of $140 million in 1986 when it sold to Jim Walton’s Arvest Bank Group Inc. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Arvest Bank had total assets of $27.34 billion as of Dec. 31. Arvest has maintained McIlroy Bank’s charter, the oldest in Arkansas. McIlroy Bank was established in January 1871…