Kirk Arenhold Porter

Kirk Porter, long a respected member of Nashville's business community who was active in civic causes over the years, passed away in Nashville on March 2, 2023, after a lengthy illness. He was 58 years of age.

Kirk was the only child of Nashville educators Richard N. and Brigitte A. Porter, who survive him. He was a grandchild of the late Martha Behrens Arenhold and Wilhelm Richard Arenhold of Wolfenbuttel, Germany and of the late Dorothy Kirk Porter and William Swiggart Porter of Nashville and Hinsdale, Illinois.

Surviving Kirk, in addition to his parents, are sons Andrew Arenhold Porter, William Kirk Porter and Phillip Robert Porter, as well as his former spouse, Stefanie Cunningham Porter.

Kirk was born in Bloomington, Indiana, and grew up primarily in Nashville. In his early grade-school years, the family moved to Regensburg, Germany, where Dick and Brigitte were creating Vanderbilt University's German year-abroad program in the early 1970s.

Later in childhood, Kirk attended Harding Academy. He graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 1982. He eventually served as the alumni leader for his MBA class for many years.

At Vanderbilt University, Kirk made an impact as program director for campus radio station WRVU/91Rock, which increased its signal to 14,500 watts under his leadership. In a November 1986 Tennessean popularity poll of area DJs, Kirk came in ahead of several commercial stalwarts, though ranked behind his then-girlfriend. He encouraged professionalism on the air, while also raising money for the fledgling station by leading benefit concerts at the Exit/In and elsewhere.

With a degree in philosophy and a minor in German, Kirk naturally transitioned into the world of banking. Over the course of his career, Kirk handled billions of dollars' worth of funding for businesses in the health care sector and beyond. He first worked for the former First American National Bank, Nashville's largest independent financial institution in the 1980s and 90s. At the former Mercantile Bancorporation in St. Louis, he managed one of the nation's largest portfolios of loan syndications. He was most recently a senior vice president with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Nashville.

Kirk had a love for travel which he passed on to his children. His family-famous "walkabouts" took him to countries all around the world, including Vietnam, Iraq, Ghana, Jordan, Argentina, and Lithuania, to name a few.

Kirk's family appreciates the loving care shown to him by friends, staff & caregivers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Alive Hospice.

Per Kirk's wishes, there will not be a funeral or memorial service. There will be a celebration of life later this spring for family and close friends. In lieu of flowers, Kirk requested that a donation be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in his name under Team Phillip.