Great Living Cincinnatians: Honorees

William Liggett, a native of Ripley, Ohio, has been chairman and chief executive officer of the First National Cincinnati Corp. since 1974 and is chairman of the Executive Committee of First National Bank as of January, 1983.

He was a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He also held a diploma from the Graduate School of Banking of the University of Wisconsin.

Liggett entered the banking profession as assistant cashier at the Citizens National Bank in Ripley, Ohio. He became bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 1942 and joined the staff of First National Bank of Cincinnati in 1948 as assistant vice president in the Department of Banks. He was elected vice president and head of that department in 1949, executive vice president in 1964, and president in 1968. In 1971 he became president and chief executive officer and chairman and chief executive officer in 1972.

Liggett served on the boards of directors of Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co.; Morris Bean & Co., Yellow Springs, Ohio; Dayton Malleable Inc., Dayton, Ohio; Hennegan Co.; Lodge & Shipley Co.; Midland Co.; and Schauer Manufacturing Co. He also served on the board of trustees of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; the Ohio Public Expenditure Council; the Citizens Council for Ohio Schools; and was a board member and treasurer for the Miami University Foundation.

Liggett, who says banking has always been his hobby, was active in many other civic and community activities in the Greater Cincinnati area. He was the former director of the Advisory Committee for the National Conference of Christians and Jews and is a former trustee of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. He was director of Citizens for a Better Hamilton County and was on the Advisory Boards of the General Protestant Orphan Home and the Boys Clubs of Greater Cincinnati Inc. He served on the President’s Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Dan Beard Council and a member of the School Task Force of the Cincinnati Business Committee.

He served as president of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber in 1975; chairman, Division A, United Appeal in 1979; and president of the Commercial Club from 1980 to 1981.

Liggett died February 27, 1993.