His death was confirmed by his son, Elliott Crutchfield, who said his father had dementia. When Mr. Crutchfield graduated from business school in 1965, he took a job as a credit analyst at First Union bank in Charlotte, N.C. It was the lowest-paying job he was offered but he thought he could move up faster at a smaller bank. He sensed opportunity, he told his family and colleagues, at the bank and in the region. The decision empowered Mr. Crutchfield, by then his bank’s chairman and chief executive, to gobble up rival banks and failed thrifts, transforming First Union into a super-regional bank with thousands of branches throughout the Southeast.

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Persons: Edward E, Crutchfield, Eddie ”, Elliott Crutchfield, hunches, ” Organizations: Charlotte, First Union, Union, New York Times Locations: North Carolina, Vero Beach, Fla, Charlotte, N.C, “