Merriman Morton ’63 developed his interest in banking early on. As a young man he moved with his family to a number of small towns around Houston, in support of his father’s career as a Methodist minister. Morton noticed that in many of these towns the church and civic leaders were also the community’s bankers. He admired these men – “in those days unlike today they were all men,” he noted – and the contributions they made as leaders. This sparked his interest in banking.

However, in the beginning of his Southwestern career he was not certain what major he would pursue. He came to Southwestern on a basketball scholarship and he knew one of his strengths was math and working with numbers. Feeling fairly sure he didn’t want to teach, he wasn’t sure what the practical application of a math degree would be. Once he started taking economics courses, things fell into place.

Dr. L.H. Merzbach was one of his most memorable professors, who realized Morton’s interest in economics and helped him nurture and develop that interest. “Dr. Merzbach’s character showed up in a particular way during basketball season. He thought playing basketball took too much time away from studying, and during the season, our grades would not be as good as they would be after the season was over. We thought our performances were pretty similar to what we achieved the rest of the year, but to Dr. Merzbach this must have seemed impossible, and our grades reflected that.” Morton enjoyed the small community aspects of Southwestern. “Walking around campus you had continuing conversations with faculty members. If you were standing in the student union building getting your mail, you might start talking to Dr. Merzbach or the president of the university. There was the opportunity to interact any time we met on campus.”

This approach to community has served Morton well. He also benefited from the broadening aspects of a liberal arts education, such as being required to take a course in psychology. He enjoyed it, and it’s been useful in his work. “As it turns out, working in a bank requires more than math ability. My liberal arts education prepared me for a successful career in banking, because in running a bank you interact with people with varied backgrounds and interests. Certain jobs in banks require a focused type of attention, but if you're the CEO you need to be broader in your abilities and able to communicate with different types of people, both employees and customers. Southwestern prepared me for that.”

In this phase of his life, Morton is reaping some of the benefits of career longevity. He worked as CEO of several banks beginning in 1971 until his retirement in 1998. “Those six years of retirement got a little boring.” In 2004 he took a position as chairman of Texas Capital Bank in Austin. “The goal now is to make the bank where I work a premier performer. They invited me to serve as chairman and help them build business. I don’t have the same personnel and paper responsibilities I did in former jobs. It's a nice fit.”

Morton’s advice to today’s students? “Realize what kind of university Southwestern is, and take advantage of it! I wish I could come back to the Southwestern of today as a freshman. I’d focus more on doing well academically and taking advantage of the many opportunities Southwestern has to offer.”