Thomas Austin Finch Iii

Thomas Austin Finch III

Sapphire NC - Thomas Austin Finch III of Sapphire Valley, NC, died Tuesday March 3, 2015. A graveside service will be held at 1:00 pm Saturday March 7 at the Thomasville City Cemetery with Reverend Peggy Finch officiating.

Visitation will follow at the Memorial United Methodist Church fellowship hall.

Austin was born in High Point on May 24, 1950, and was raised in Thomasville. He attended Woodberry Forest School in Virginia and was in the class of 1968 where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. While at Woodberry he was Governor of the Investment Club, signaling his lifelong penchant for business and investing.

He was in the class of 1972 from Princeton University, a member of the Cap and Gown Club, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. His senior thesis, on the regulation of public utilities, was published while he was at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his MBA. He worked as an investment banker at Kidder Peabody and Co. in New York City, then became a partner and vice president of Salomon Brothers. Austin enjoyed sailing, scuba diving, foreign travel, and the statistics side of baseball. Though generally soft spoken, when it came to telling stories or one of his show stopping jokes, everyone listened, and asked for more.

Despite his years away at Woodberry, Princeton, Wharton, New York, Sea Island, and Sapphire Valley, he never forgot that he grew up in Thomasville and appreciated the straightforward, down home ways of a small Southern town.

Austin is survived by his wife, Jill Meredith Finch, his mother, Meredith Person Michener, brothers, John Lambeth Finch and wife Donna, David Slane Finch and wife Peggy, Sumner Slane Finch and wife Elizabeth, and his sister, Meredith Kempton Finch. His nieces and nephews include Lindsey Finch Williams and husband Ted, Emily Pendleton Finch, William Austin Finch, David Jefferson Finch, Sarah Finch Mitchell and husband Bryan, Justin Slane Finch, Matthew Thomas Finch, Jennifer Gail Finch, Carol Finch Mertz and husband Jonathan, and John Lambeth Finch Jr. Austin is also survived by his stepson Thomas Ryan Sadler and wife Dawn, and his step grandson Ryan Logan Sadler.

Flowers may be sent to JC Green & Sons Funeral Home in Thomasville, NC. Memorials may be made to the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation or the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Bryant Grant Funeral Home Franklin is in charge of local arrangements