Marquis Landrum

1939 - 2012

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Marquis Carl Landrum, 73, died Saturday, August 25, 2012 at his Columbia, Mo. home. A man of great intelligence, adventure, imagination, and vision with many and varied interests, he considered his main business and life's work to be banking. Mark Landrum held primary responsibility for his family's century-old banking enterprise for several decades and saw it grow from its twin roots in Mountain View, Mo. and Tishomingo, Okla. into Landmark Bank, with 41 locations in three states. Even as the Bank grew quite large and included many disparate communities, he continued to advocate the philosophy of hometown banking, that is, local banks serving the people, families, and businesses of the 29 small cities of its locations.

Mr. Landrum was born June 6, 1939 in Ardmore, Okla. to Ruth (Walker) and Carl Landrum. He grew up in Tishomingo where his father owned First State Bank of Tishomingo, his mother taught school, and his grandmother operated the Walker Hotel. The family later moved to Hobbs, N.M., to start a bank, and there he attended Hobbs High School, graduating first in his class in 1957. He was a stand-out high school basketball player. But most summers called him home to Ardmore and Tishomingo, to work in the bank or on the family's ranch.

Given his keen intellect and interest in varied subjects, Mark chose Yale University to pursue a deep study of literature and to play collegiate basketball. He received a B.A. in English in 1961. He served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964, with active duty as a First Lieutenant in Munich, Germany.

Upon returning, he studied at Harvard Law School and was awarded a Juris Doctorate in 1967. He began his employment at the Reno, Nev. law firm, Bargas, Bartlett & Dixon in 1967, and a year later, moved to New York to practice corporate law with Jacobs, Persinger & Parker.

In 1969, Mark relocated to Columbia to help run First National Bank and Trust Company, which his father had purchased in 1964. Mark Landrum's role in the family business grew until he took majority ownership of the company in 1994.

Mark Landrum was the third generation in the family banking business. His grandfather, Marquis Lafayette Landrum purchased the Bank of Mountain View in Missouri in 1909. In 1936, Mark's father, Carl, purchased the First State Bank of Tishomingo in Oklahoma from J.W. Walker. Mr. Walker would later become Carl's father-in-law, after he met and married local teacher and artist, Ruth Walker. From these two original banks, the family's enterprise grew to cover many small to medium size towns in Oklahoma, Texas and Southern Missouri and joined with the Columbia bank to make Landmark Bank in 2009.

Mr. Landrum's entrepreneurial leadership through this period of expansion is unparalleled and resulted in a healthy, thriving bank operating in three states.

In addition to his distinguished professional career, he carried his mother's great love of music and the arts throughout his life and he donated many works to the communities served by his banks. His personal collection, along with the acquisitions he made for the Bank, comprise one of the finest private collections of contemporary ceramics, glass, wood, and other formed objects, as well as very fine pieces by Midwest artists, Italian paintings and a noteworthy collection of antiquities. The memorial garden at Murray State College, Tishomingo, recently developed in memory of his mother, is a current and future home of many of his pieces. The Chamber Music Series within the University of Missouri Concert Series exists today largely because of his steadfast support.

He felt the banks should be places customers and the public could view fine art and filled them full as a contribution to the overall cultural health and edification of the community. This public art collection contains works ranging from intellectual and introspective pieces to more approachable art. Similarly, Mark viewed architecture as art and strived to create bank buildings that exuded a warm and unpretentious business environment-buildings that both made a statement and were pleasant to view and inhabit.

He had a love of life, which was a driving force of his fascination with music (opera and ballet), literature, history and culture of the world. His curious and adventurous nature made him a pilot, a sailor, and a traveler.

Mr. Landrum followed an unpretentious lifestyle that reflected the values of the common man, all the while accomplishing a life most uncommon. Despite the many demands of widely dispersed business interests, investments, and properties, his heart drew him ever back to the roots and legacy of his family.

He is survived by his wife, Yulia and young daughters Veronika and Valeria, of the home, as well as adult children Rebecca Landrum, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Michael Landrum, of Washington, D.C., David Landrum, John Landrum, of Columbia, Jennifer Landrum, of Haines, Alaska, and Lara Landrum, of Columbia. He is also survived by his sister, Brenda Bingham, of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, and three grandchildren, Montana and Costi, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rose, of Columbia. He was preceded in death by his parents and one grandchild, Valentin.

The memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 1st at 11 a.m. in the Fletcher Auditorium on the campus of Murray State College in Tishomingo. A visitation will be held on Friday, August 31 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Clark Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to East Central University Foundation, Ada, and Murray State College Foundation, Tishomingo.

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CLARK FUNERAL SERVICE OF TISHOMINGO