Bronnie Frank McNabb, Jr.

Bronnie Frank McNabb, Jr., Vice President and Chief Development Officer for Claremont School of Theology, in Claremont, California, died peacefully at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas on Tuesday, May 17, 2011. Immediate members of his family were at his bedside continually before his death.

He was born in Corsicana, Texas on August 3, 1951, and is the son of Bronnie F. and JoAnn Nagy McNabb. He graduated from Coriscana High School in 1969 and attended Baylor University where he received a BS from Hankamer School of Business. He holds a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University Graduate School of Banking as well as a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University.

He was employed by First Bank and Trust in Clarendon, Texas for eighteen years, where he served as President and Chairman for eleven years.

He sat on numerous boards, including The Texas Bankers Association, The American Bankers Association, The Don and Cybil Harrington Cancer Center in Amarillo, Texas, and The Federal Reserve. He was also a member of the First United Methodist Church of Clarendon, where he served in many leadership capacities.

After obtaining his degree in Theology, he was ordained into the Methodist Ministry in the Western North Carolina Conference in 1997 and served as President of the United Methodist Foundation of Western North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina before acting as the Vice President and Chief Development Officer for Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California for the last nine years. Bronnie was an avid runner and reader and an active and devoted member of the United Methodist Church. His generosity and wisdom touched so many lives and his sense of humor and magnetic
personality will be truly missed by all who knew him.

He was preceded in death by his father, Bronnie Frank McNabb, Sr. and survived by Anna Beth Simmons McNabb; daughter, Margaret Anna McNabb; son, James Madison McNabb, all of Charlotte, North Carolina; mother, JoAnn Nagy McNabb, of Corsicana and Midland, Texas; sister, Nancy McNabb Graf of Vernon, Texas; and nephews, John Kenneth Graf of Dallas, Texas and Christopher McNabb Graf of Houston, Texas. He is also survived by Linda and Autry Stephens, and Joe and Lou Nagy of Midland, Texas, and Billy McNabb of Corsicana.

Mr. McNabb fought a courageous battle against glioblastoma multi-form, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, for over three years before the disease eventually took his life.

He received treatment at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA where he participated in several clinical trials before finding one drug that he responded well to, Avastin. Bronnie was a key contributor in Avastin’s approval for brain cancer treatment by the FDA and in the last years of his life he worked to promote research for treatment of brain cancer so others diagnosed with this disease could benefit from successful treatment options. Memorial contributions can be made to UCLA Neuro Cancer Center, Glioblastoma Cancer Research Fund, attention: Timothy Cloughesy, MD, Los Angeles, California.

Memorial contributions may also be made to the Bronnie F. McNabb, Jr. Theological Library Collection at First United Methodist Church, Clarendon, Texas, The Building Fund of First Baptist Church, Corsicana, Texas, or The Scholarship Fund of Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California.

Memorial Services were held at First United Methodist Church of Corsicana on Saturday, May 21, with Rev. Terry Tamplen, Rev. B.F. Risinger, Jr. and Rev. Danny Reeves officiating. Burial was held at Dresden Cemetery on Saturday.

An online guestbook is available at www.corleyfuneralhome.com by selecting the Bronnie McNabb, Jr. obituary.