Morristown businessman, financial industry leader, and community philanthropist and activist, died Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006 at Morristown Hamblen Healthcare System. He was 86. Born into a farm family in 1920 in Kansas, Nelson moved with his parents, Clio and Jessie Nelson, and sister, Maurita, back to the family's home state of Illinois in 1925. Nelson and his sister were raised by his mother following the accidental death of his father in 1930. Through his mother's tutoring and early admission to school, he graduated Valedictorian from high school at 16. By 20, he was a graduate of Illinois College in Jacksonville. He landed a job in insurance soon afterward, but came to realize more potential could lay in other career fields. Nelson became an accountant for a local telephone company as World War II began. As the war progressed, Nelson was called into active duty in January 1943. By the end of his service, he had achieved the rank of first lieutenant with the United States Army Air Corps in 1945, flying 49 missions without serious injury to himself or his crew. He remained active in the Air Force Reserve until 1956, leaving at the rank of captain. Returning from active duty, Nelson returned to the halls of academia in the University of Illinois graduate school, seeking to enter a career as a college-level instructor or in banking. He got his first taste of teaching when, even before his class work was complete, he was offered an assistant teaching position at the university, instructing other returning G.I. students introduction to business. At about the same time he was teaching about business, Nelson heard about a ground floor opportunity to join a bank soon to open in the Urbana area and decided to pursue that career path. During the next three years, Nelson honed his banking skills before accepting the junior officer position at a bank in Mt. Vernon, where he stayed for three years. He returned to the bank in Urbana as the head of its trust department, a position he held for five years. It was during this time, Nelson met his wife, Louise. Both were widowed - his wife, Ruth Carson Nelson, passed away in 1953 and Louise's husband passed away in 1952 - and they met through mutual friends. Dwight and Louise were wed in 1955. Nelson also discovered his love of community activism and philanthropy during this period, leading the drive to open a mental health clinic in Champaign, Ill. He also served as the president of the Champaign County Mental Health Association and on the board of directors of the Macon County Mental Health Clinic. Still committed to his career and juggling his community service and his role as a representative of the local Chamber of Commerce, Nelson became bank president of the Soy Capital Bank in Decatur, Ill. in 1958. By the time Nelson family came to Morristown in 1972, he had sat at the helm of yet another bank, this one in Kentucky. Through a series of changes, plus research on where to go next, Nelson decided Morristown would be a good fit. Nelson was named the chief executive officer of the Bank of Morristown shortly after the move. He remained with the bank through its change to First Tennessee Bank. He retired in 1985. Nelson had also found a home with the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce upon his move to the area. He was elected to fill a vacant board seat only one month after his arrival in town. A strong supporter of the Chamber, he served as economic development director for four years following his retirement. He remained active in Chamber industry recruiting activities while serving on the Industrial Development Board of the City of Morristown for 20 years. He was one of several recruiters who convinced the owners Tuff Torq Corporation in Japan to locate a manufacturing facility in the Morristown Airport Industrial District. Nelson also played important role in opening the East Tennessee Progress Center Some estimates say Nelson participated in landing between 20 and 30 industries to the Morristown area. Not limited to business ventures, Nelson continued to be a community volunteerism leader through support of agencies such as United Way of Hamblen County, where he served as both campaign chair and president of the board of directors and received the 1975 United Way President's Award; Morristown Hamblen Central Services, the Hamblen County Chapter of the American Red Cross, charter member of the Hamblen County Literacy Council, and as a Morristown Rotary Club member. He was the second recipient of the R. Jack Fishman Community Service Award, receiving it for 1999. He was a 10-year adjunct faculty member of Walters State Community College and he was one of three founders of HC*EXCELL Hamblen County Foundation for Educational Excellence and Achievement in 1990 and served as the foundation's president for its first six years. Nelson recently received the Distinguished Service Citation from Illinois College in 2005. He was a member of All Saints' Episcopal Church