James M. Fail

Who is James M. Fail?

James M. Fail was an American financial executive, the chairman of Stone Holdings, Inc. and Bluebonnet Savings Bank. A native of Mobile, Alabama, he attended Murphy High School and served for three years in the U.S. Navy. After graduating from the University of Alabama in 1949, he began his career as a securities salesman for Merrill Lynch. In the following decades, Fail and his holding companies have owned and operated a variety of investment, mortgage, banking, savings and loan, and insurance businesses throughout the U.S.

Fail was thrust into public attention in 1990, when the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommitee held hearings scrutinizing his business activities, in particular his acquisition of a federally funded thrift despite a prior indictment for fraud and the criminal conviction of his company. More recently, he has been noted for a variety of philanthropic and community leadership efforts.