AUDIO: S. Buford Scott 1 | S. Buford Scott 2

The stock market rises one day and falls the next. Fortunes may turn on a whim.

For S. Buford Scott, it's long-term gains that really count, whether he's investing in stocks or the good of the community.

"You have to be an optimist to be in this business," said Scott, who started working at the Richmond-based brokerage of Scott & Stringfellow 50 years ago today.

Scott seems to spread his sense of optimism to everyone he meets, including the staff at Scott & Stringfellow, where he has been chairman since 1974. The firm has more than 1,000 employees, including 270 financial advisers, and 45 branch offices, mostly in the Southeast.

"He has this gift of encouraging people to do more than they think they can do," said Cheryl Dennier, Scott's executive assistant, who has shared an office with him for 38 years.

Optimism also carries into an extensive list of his civic work.

Scott is involved in about a dozen organizations now, but he has devoted time to many more philanthropic causes, including affordable housing and teen-pregnancy prevention.

He was the driving force behind the creation of the Stock Market Game in 1977. Since then, about 10 million students in grades four through 12 have participated, learning about the economy through hypothetically investing in the market.

"If you're going to live in a community, then you should do something to help that community be a good place to live," he said.

. . .

At the brokerage firm's downtown Richmond office, Scott works at the same rolltop desk that belonged to his grandfather, Frederic W. Scott, who co-founded the company with Charles S. Stringfellow in 1893.

Scott started working there on May 18, 1958 as a "board boy," an entry-level post that involved scribbling stock prices on a board so the brokers could see the updates. He made $150 a month ($1,119 in today's dollars).

"After about a year, I was promoted to what we called the cage," Scott said. "The cage was where we received securities and delivered securities as people bought and sold them."

Eventually, his father, Buford Scott, who was the firm's chairman, put him to the test in the late 1950s.

It came at the suggestion of Floyd D. Gottwald Sr., then head of Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Co., which was a predecessor company to today's NewMarket Corp.

"One morning coming out of a bank meeting, Mr. Gottwald asked my father 'Is young Buford any good?'" Scott said.

"My father said, 'Well, how can you tell?' Mr. Gottwald said, 'Give him more responsibility than he can handle, and you'll find out right quickly.' So my father called me in and said they planned to make me a partner in the firm . . . to find out if I was any good or not."

Since then, Scott and others nurtured the firm through decades of growth. "We were able to attract good people. We were able to buy other firms," he said.

In 1999, BB&T Corp. bought the firm. The relationship has worked well since, Scott said.

. . .

Today, computers have replaced the board boys. A television on the windowsill in Scott's office flashes constant updates of the financial news.

Scott has adapted to the technological changes, and, at 75, he has no intention of slowing down. He manages more than $200 million in assets.

"I love the variety. I love the change that is taking place," he said. "For people who like variety, who like change, this is a wonderful business. But what I like most of all is talking to clients."

Scott keeps a jar of peanut M&Ms on a table near his office door. The chocolate candies are a personal favorite, but they are more of an invitation to come in. "He likes seeing other people enjoy them," said Susan Bailey Scott, his wife of 48 years.

Like his father, Scott almost always wears a colorful bow tie.

"They say people who wear bow ties are excellent dancers and excellent conversationalists, and I enjoy dancing and conversation," he said. "A lot of people compliment my bow ties, too. I think I have got 300 at home, and I love to give them away."

A voracious reader, he also keeps a stack of books in his desk -- popular tomes about business, economics and philosophy, mostly -- and he likes to let his visitors choose one to take home. He replenishes the stack regularly.

Scott's personable nature and positive outlook have endeared him to numerous colleagues and made him many friends, such as John Sherman, who was the firm's president and chief executive officer from 1996 to 2002 and has known Scott for 20 years.

"One day we were playing racquetball, and I asked him, 'Buford, do you ever get depressed?'" Sherman recalled. "His answer was, 'John, I have too many blessings to ever be depressed.'"

Scott lives the values he preaches, which includes putting his clients' interests first, said Mike Ball, a senior managing director who has been with Scott & Stringfellow for 25 years.

"One of his rules is you don't lie," Ball said. "You give the bad news first, but you don't lie. His integrity is second to none, and that permeates the firm from top to bottom."

Scott maintains a positive view about the long-term value of stocks, which he calls "the only way to invest your money," and about the overall economy.

"They say the market climbs a wall of worry," he said. "Right now, there is a lot to worry about" including the slowing economy, rising fuel prices, the rising federal deficit, and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"But there are also a lot of things that we should be very happy about," he said. "For instance, everybody in the world seems to want to come and live in the United States. The United States, with its concepts of freedom and economic opportunity, is a very attractive place to live. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.