Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 2, at 1:30 p.m., in the Chapel of First Baptist Church, 1000 West Friendly Avenue, Greensboro NC. Interment will follow at Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, NC.
Mr. Cheek was born March 20, 1921 in Lexington, NC to the late John Alexander Merritt Cheek and Maude Novelle Wall Cheek. He grew up on Watts Street in Durham, a member of Durham High School's class of 1939. While at Wake Forest College he was a brother and officer of the Tau Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order, graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1941. His service in World War Two on the destroyer USS Black from 1943 to 1945 earned him the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Valor Device. Recalled to active duty for the Korean War, then-Lieutenant Cheek served on the destroyer USS Rowan in combat service off the Korean coast, and later on the destroyer-escort USS Darby. He remained in the United States Naval Reserve until his retirement in 1981 with the grade of Captain. He was awarded the Bronze Star three times and wounded twice in combat.
After World War Two, he returned home to Durham to start a family with his new bride, Betty Green Johnson Cheek, formerly of Buies Creek, NC. Starting as a supervisor with Cheek-Holton Manufacturing Company, he later became a Trust Officer at Wachovia Bank and Trust Company in Durham. In 1961 he moved his family to Charleston, South Carolina to take the position of Vice President and General Trust Officer of First National Bank of South Carolina. The opportunities offered by the Richardson family led Mr. Cheek to Greensboro in 1963, where he began a new career with a growing body of responsibilities: the Managing Trustee of the H. Smith Richardson Family Trusts, President of Piedmont Financial Company, President of Richardson Corporation, President and Chairman of the Board of Lexington Management Company, and a longtime member of the Board of Directors of Richardson-Merrell (later Richardson-Vicks), the Reinsurance Corporation of New York, and Pacific Fidelity Life Insurance Company.
His efforts in public service were headed by his devotion to his alma mater, Wake Forest University. As a longtime member of the Board of Trustees of Wake Forest, he served many years as Chairman of the Finance Committee, and was awarded the title of Life Trustee. He served for many years as a Trustee for the Smith Richardson Foundation, the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust, the Lynn R. and Karl E. Prickett Fund, and The Center for Creative Leadership. Years of service for the Boy Scouts of America in Durham, Charleston, and Greensboro culminated in his service as President of the General Greene Council and the presentation of the Silver Beaver Award by the Scouts in 1977. He served as President of the Rotary Clubs in Durham and Greensboro and as Vice President of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.
His financial abilities and leadership skills were called upon by other non-profit organizations. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees and Finance Committee Chair of the North Carolina Outward Bound School, the Paul Green Foundation, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and Greensboro Day School. He also served as a Board Member of the Durham Civic Ballet, the Charleston Civic Ballet and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, and as President of the Greensboro Civic Ballet.
He taught the Cheek Bible Class (Sunday School) at Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, served as a Deacon of First Baptist Church in Greensboro, and as Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
With his wife Betty he endowed Scholarships at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Campbell University and Wake Forest University, as well as the Cheek Fund for Craniofacial Disorders at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
He is survived by his daughters Mary Charles Cheek Cartner and husband John A. C. of Alexandria, VA and Beaufort NC, Catherine Wall Cheek Applewhite and husband Grant of Charlotte, NC and Roaring Gap NC, and his son Alexander McAllister Cheek and wife Angela of Winston-Salem; three grandchildren: Charles Torrence Armstrong, II and wife Amanda of Charlottesville, VA, Catherine McLean Armstrong Getchell and husband Samuel of Philadelphia, PA, and Mary Avery Sawyer of Charlotte, NC; and one great grandchild, Kaitlyn Eleanor Armstrong of Charlottesville, VA. He is also survived by his brother Dr. John Merritt Cheek of Durham.
Mr. Cheek was preceded in death by his wife of sixty-one years, Betty Green Johnson Cheek and his sisters Novelle Cheek Steele and Mary Cheek Schuchardt.
Gifts in memory of Mr. Cheek may be made to North Carolina Outward Bound School, 2582 Riceville Road, Asheville, NC 28805, or the Betty Johnson Cheek Fine Arts Endowment, UNCG School of Music, P.O. Box 26167, Greensboro, NC 27402.
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