Mike and Henriella Perry attend a fundraiser for Heritage Farm on Tuesday, Oct. 29 2013, at Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Huntington. Mike Perry died at 3 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Tri-State lost one of its best friends early Wednesday when beloved community leader Mike Perry died at age 78.
The Huntington native built a business legacy as an attorney and banker, but he was equally well remembered as a tireless champion of the Huntington region, Marshall University and Appalachia’s frontier heritage.
Despite a year-and-a-half battle with cancer, Perry never stopped working on community projects and expanding his tribute to Appalachia culture, the Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Harveytown.
“Dad went be with his Lord and Savior this morning at 3am after a peaceful hug and kiss from his beloved wife of 57 years and his three children. God has truly blessed a life well lived,” according to the family’s statement posted Wednesday on Facebook.
Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at New Baptist Church in Huntington. Perry’s funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday also at New Baptist Church, according to the post.
“Thank you for all of your kindness, compassion and love shown to Dad and our Family over these past 20 months of Dad’s courageous and abundant journey,” the post continued.
Perry was a Huntington native and 1954 graduate of Huntington High School. He graduated from Marshall University in 1958, and graduated first in his law class at West Virginia University in 1961.
Perry married his wife, Henriella, in 1958. The two met in fifth grade, with Perry telling his mother he had met the girl he was going to marry. They had three children, Michele Blake, Melanie Hall and Audy Perry, and now have eight grandchildren.
Perry spent 20 years working as a lawyer with the Huddleston-Bolen firm, where he became a partner within just five years. In 1981, at the urging of friend Marshall Reynolds, chairman of Champion Industries, he entered the banking business.
As chairman of the board and CEO of First Huntington National Bank, the bank’s holding company grew from $20 million in assets in 1982 to over $3.5 billion within 12 years, making it West Virginia’s first billion dollar banking company. The bank was later purchased by Bank One of West Virginia, and he continued to serve as CEO and chairman until he retired from the bank in 2001.
Perry served as interim president of Marshall University…
