Perdue honors six with N.C. Award

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1997: Hugh McColl

Back when he was a lowly but cocky bank loan officer in the early 1960s, Hugh McColl would gab away the late nights with his friend Reitzel Snider, sipping whiskey in the kitchen and sharing their career dreams.

Like most young men on the make, Snider would talk about money and how he wanted lots of it. McColl, though he worked for a bank, seemed strangely indifferent to the almighty dollar. He was after something else.

"In those days, the word 'power' was the word that was always in Hugh's vocabulary," recalls Snider, a Charlotte real-estate investor. "I thought it was curious for him to use the word 'power' as a way to describe his aspirations.

Where are they now?

Here's an update on The News & Observer's previous Tar Heels of the Year.

1997 -- Hugh McColl, banker and civic leader:

McColl retired in April 2001 after building Bank of America into the nation's first coast-to-coast bank. He had successful heart bypass surgery in February and remains involved in a number of charitable activities, including Habitat for Humanity.

For artists, picture's pretty in jobs count

The financial industry gets a lot of respect as a source of North Carolina jobs. So try this on for size: The arts, humanities and design fields employ asmany people as banks do.

That's one of the discoveries in a study released Tuesday by the state departments of cultural resources and commerce. Using census information, state employment data and other information, researchers have counted jobs and dollars to prove the arts' importance to the economy.

"We all know that arts and culture feed the soul. But they also feed families across the state," said Linda Carlisle, state secretary of cultural resources.

2000: Larry Wheeler

On Halloween, Larry Wheeler scooted into his office at the North Carolina Museum of Art while unsuspecting members of the museum foundation board finished lunch. As the board dug into chocolate shells of pumpkin mousse, he returned phone calls and poked through his mail. He didn't act like a man about to make the most dramatic pitch of his career.

Wheeler wasn't nervous. He simply wondered what the board, whose members raise money for the museum, might think. For two years, he had talked up an addition. Architects had been hired, drawings finished, fund-raising started. Now, Wheeler had a new idea: one that might cost $100 million.

Smiling comfortably, he made his way to the head of the long oak table. Wheeler looked dapper as usual. His thick, black glasses set off his silvery hair. A red tie splashed color against his standard white shirt and dark suit.

Nonprofit will add 1,014 jobs

In the unfolding economic crisis, helping borrowers with troubled mortgages has become a growth business. That was good news Thursday for Charlotte's beleaguered financial sector.

At an office park in east Charlotte, Gov. Bev Perdue and other local officials gathered to announce an expansion by a nonprofit organization that aims to add 1,014 jobs in Charlotte over the next five years.

Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America, a community advocacy and homeownership organization, plans to hire customer service specialists, mortgage counselors, negotiators and others to help low-income and minority borrowers.