'Father' of supermarket-banking dies

CORNELIA - The Habersham County man who pioneered supermarket banking in this country and Europe died Tuesday.

J. Alton Wingate, 66, died at his home in Cornelia following a bout with cancer.

Wingate was President and CEO of Community Bankshares, Inc., an interstate, multi-bank holding company headquartered in Cornelia.

Wingate, a 42-year banking veteran, was also the founder and President of Financial Supermarkets, Inc., parent company of The Supermarket Bank, and pioneer of in-store banking in both the United States and Europe.


Hall County Division of Community Bank and Trust President Bill Gilardi said having a bank in a supermarket was a way to bring services to costomers without building new banks.

"He was known affectionately when he started that," Gilardi said. "As the coleslaw banker, because he was in the grocery store."

The idea was first put into action at the Ingles in Cornelia in the mid 1980's.

Gilardi adds that over the years, Wingate dealt with kings and custodians, treating everyone he met fairly.

"Helping people was more important to him than any of the trappings you'll find," he added. "Or, any of the accomplishments."


A native of Albany, Georgia, Wingate was a member of the Habersham County Rotary Club and a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow. He also served as a member of the Board of the Habersham County Medical Center and on the Board of Trustees of Piedmont College. He had also served on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia State Road and Toll Authority, and the Georgia Cities Foundation.

The funeral will be Thursday at 11:00 at Cornelia First United Methodist Church.