In Remembrance: Donald W. Hodges, Co-Founder, Hodges Capital Management

DALLAS, Jan. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Donald W. Hodges, co-founder of Hodges Capital Management, died of complications from a blood disorder on January 21, 2015 in Dallas with his family around him.  He was 80 years old.

Hodges began his investment career in 1960 as a broker for Merrill Lynch in Oklahoma City receiving his training in New York, a city he and his wife Freddie Donaldson enjoyed over the years.  He joined Rauscher Pierce Refsnes, now RBC Rauscher, in Dallas and was named President in 1983.

Hodges left his executive position at Rauscher and in 1989 he and his son, Craig, founded First Dallas Securities and Hodges Capital Management, which now manages more than $3 billion in assets.  They also co-founded seven mutual funds.  The company's management team includes daughter Camille Hodges Hays and son Clark Hodges.  The Hodges are also backed by 32 employees, including 4 portfolio managers, 7 research analysts, and several key support staff members.   Instead of calling this a family business, the Hodges prefer to call this a business family.

Barron's reported that Hodges' insatiable appetite for information and widely diversified investment approach benefitted many investors.  "Hodges may have grown up in cattle country, but he doesn't like being fenced in."  The only companies he and his son would not invest in were alcohol and tobacco, because Don quipped, "My mother raised me to avoid both."

Following the turbulence in the market in the late 2000s, Don wrote his investors saying, "As long as we have economic freedom in the country, entrepreneurs and capitalistic opportunists will strive, succeed and create wealth.  I hope the average American investor will take the long-term view and not opt out of the dynamic process.  But instead will look across the valley at the sunny side of the mountain."

A humanitarian and philanthropist, Hodges recently received the 2014 Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award for his commitment to enterprise and his lifelong support of the Dallas community.

Hodges was born in the small Texas panhandle town of Canadian where he remained close to family and childhood friends.  As a teenager, he met Freddie, the girl who would be his wife for nearly 60 years.

Hodges served on the boards of W.A. Criswell Foundation, West Texas A&M University Foundation, the Citadelle Art Foundation, the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics and a private company, VLSIP Technologies.

He is survived by his wife Freddie, his children, Craig Hodges, Clark Hodges, Camille Hodges Hays, nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

The memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church of Dallas, 1707 San Jacinto, Dallas, Texas 75201 on Monday, January 26^th, 2015 at 1:30 pm.

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SOURCE Hodges Capital Management