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.
Craig Shy, president of Arvest Bank – Fayetteville region, provided the following statement about Hayden McIlroy.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the McIlroy family on their loss. Hayden McIlroy inspired and supported countless families and businesses in the Fayetteville area. We are proud to continue operating under the original McIlroy family bank charter established in 1871. He will be remembered for his lasting impact and the legacy he leaves behind.”
Also in 1871, the McIlroy family, one of Fayetteville’s founding families, sold 160 acres to the state to establish the Arkansas Industrial University, which later became the University of Arkansas. The University of Arkansas Press at Fairview Street and McIlroy Avenue is located in the McIlroy House, named for the family.
In November 2019, the Arkansas Alumni Association recognized Hayden McIlroy, board chair and CEO of HM Investments in Dallas, with a Citation of Distinguished Alumni during its annual awards celebration.
He was a life member and a former board member of the Arkansas Alumni Association and a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. He helped start the Northwest Arkansas Film Commission and served as the commission’s chairman. He served on the boards of several organizations, including Fayetteville Youth Center, Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, Arkansas Bankers Commission, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, State Chamber of Commerce and Boy Scouts of America for Northwest Arkansas.
He was also a member of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Steering Committee, which guided the university’s first billion-dollar fundraising effort that concluded in 2005. As part of the campaign, Hayden McIlroy and his wife, Mary Joe McIlroy, of Dallas gave $1 million to the UA in 2005 to establish the McIlroy Family Distinguished Visiting Professorship for Visual and Performing Arts.
The couple created the visiting professorship for the benefit of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and to strengthen the connection between the college and the Walton Arts Center.
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