BB&T Corp. equities chief Walter O'Brien dies

Walter J. O'Brien III, head of equity sales and trading at BB&T Corp. and a mentor to finance-minded graduates of his alma mater, the University of Richmond in Virginia, has died. He was 46.

He died on May 10 at his home in Richmond, his wife, Debra, said yesterday. The cause was colon cancer.

O'Brien held jobs on Wall Street at Smith Barney and Citicorp Inc. before joining Scott & Stringfellow Inc., a regional brokerage, investment banking and financial services firm in Richmond that billed itself as the South's oldest continuous member of the New York Stock Exchange.

BB&T, North Carolina's second-biggest bank, bought Scott & Stringfellow in 1999.

A member of the Executive Advisory Council of the University of Richmond's Robins School of Business, O'Brien took many students under his wing, according to an article in the alumni magazine.

-- Bloomberg News