J. B. Banks
J. B. Banks (March 13, 1924 – October 12, 2003) was an American Democratic politician from Missouri. He grew up as the son of a sharecropper near Hermondale, Missouri. Banks earned a B.S. in mathematics from Lincoln University and later earned a law degree; he also received honorary doctorates from Harris-Stowe State College in 1989, including Doctor of Humane Letters and Doctor of Law degrees. He worked in real estate, construction, insurance, and was an author.
Banks began serving in the Missouri House of Representatives in 1969 and was elected to the Missouri Senate in 1976. In 1996 he became the Senate majority leader, becoming the highest-ranking Black elected official in Missouri at that time. He helped merge Harris-Stowe into Missouri’s state higher education system in the 1970s. He was known for flamboyant style, often changing suits several times a day.
Banks resigned from the Senate in December 1999 due to ill health. Three months earlier, he pleaded guilty to filing false state income tax returns, a felony for which he received five years of probation, 300 hours of community service, and a prohibition from holding any elected or appointed office while on probation.
He died in 2003 at age 79 in Las Vegas, Nevada, from natural causes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:25 (CET).