Longtime banker and education philanthropist Selma Bartlett dies

Selma Bartlett, a trailblazing banker and strong-willed philanthropist whose work advanced education in Southern Nevada and were integral to the development of Henderson, has died. She was 97.

Ed Ratliff, a nephew of Bartlett, said she died Sept. 16 of natural causes while at Nathan Adelson Hospice one week before her 98th birthday.

Bartlett’s community investments and business loans are credited with helping propel the rapid growth of Henderson into becoming the second largest city in Nevada. Her influence extended across Southern Nevada as she helped found Nevada State University, the St. Rose Dominican Hospital system, Henderson’s first senior center and the Smith Center.

But it was her support for education at all levels that those who knew Bartlett said she viewed as her greatest accomplishment. She contributed over $1 million to UNLV, established scholarships at the university’s Howard R. Hughes School of Engineering and got an elementary school in Henderson named after her to honor her lifelong commitment to improving the lives of students in Clark County.

Legendary lender

Bartlett grew up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and moved west to Southern Nevada in 1954 when her husband Troy was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. Using a degree she earned from Hills Business College in Oklahoma City, Bartlett began what would become a 67-year career in banking.

Upon arriving in the small, dusty desert town of Henderson, Bartlett got a job at the Bank of Nevada’s newly established Henderson branch. There, she became one of the first female bank officers in the state in 1958.

Bartlett’s achievements in her field throughout her career made her a role model for other women like Jerrie Merritt, a senior vice president of community development at Bank of Nevada, now a subsidiary of Western Alliance Bank. Merritt said she first met Bartlett in 1984 as a customer service manager at a First Interstate Bank where Bartlett was the branch manager, a position unheard of for a woman at the time.

“She had basically cracked the glass ceiling for women in banking,” Merritt said. “Selma was known to be that woman that even men highly respected because she had the ability to actually make the bigger loans, bring in the larger customers and make a difference in the community.”

Merritt said Bartlett was renowned for her work in securing loans for doctors and attorneys looking to start and sustain their practices in Southern Nevada. Ratliff said a heart doctor who operated on Bartlett about a month and a half before her passing thanked her for a loan she gave him 35 years prior to help him afford to practice medicine.

In talking with people whose lives were touched by Bartlett’s work, “there’s just one story after another,” Ratliff said. “It’s just unbelievable.”

Bartlett’s community-minded approach, Merritt said, made her a beloved banker among the Henderson population she helped to grow. Whether you were a new family trying to secure a mortgage or a small business getting off the ground, Merritt said anyone who walked into a Bartlett-run bank would be greeted with her trademarked kindness and hospitality.

Bartlett finally retired from banking at age 93, with her last job being a private banker at Meadows Bank. Her colleagues there said, even at her age, Bartlett was a hard worker and a wonderful mentor for others.

“Selma gave tirelessly to people, schools, charities, wherever she could help,” Meadows Bank wrote to the Review-Journal in an emailed statement. “Many of our employees have fond memories of Selma. She was one of a kind and will be dearly missed.”

Education impact

While Bartlett invested in various aspects of Southern Nevada in the last 70 years, education-related causes always held a special place in her heart.

One of her lasting educational legacies is two scholarships established at UNLV’s College of Engineering. Both are awarded to students who show academic merit and financial need, and with a value ranging between $3,000 to $5,000 per year, can cover roughly half the annual cost of an engineering student’s tuition and fees.

Rama Venkat, dean of the College of Engineering, said hundreds of engineering students have received Bartlett’s scholarships over the last few decades. Venkat said they opened doors for first-generation students, who make up about one-third of UNLV’s students, so they can get an engineering education that will shape their families for years.

In Bartlett’s absence, Ratliff said he and his daughter will continue to ensure the scholarships will be funded into the future.

Bartlett gave money to students, Venkat said, because she saw it as an immediate investment toward improving the Southern Nevada community. On a few occasions, Venkat said, Bartlett would take out her checkbook and write a check paying for the costs of an education for students struggling to afford engineering school.

“Selma is a sweet soul,” Venkat said. “Her physical body is gone, but she will live through our students and their successes forever.”

Bartlett’s commitment to supporting local education earned her the UNLV President’s Medal in 2002, the Silver State Award in 2007 and the title of Distinguished Nevadan by the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents in 2020. Many of these awards hang on the walls of Bartlett’s Henderson home, but it was the naming of an elementary school after her in 1992 that Ratliff said she saw as her greatest honor.

Bartlett Elementary principal Brodie Christian said she developed relationships with the Henderson school’s teachers and would occasionally visit and read to students. From their interactions, Christian said he came to know Bartlett as a focused woman who always had a smile on her face.

“She didn’t have kids of her own … she kind of just made every kid hers,” Christian said. “She was short on stature, but she was bigger than life.”

Along with Ed Ratliff, Bartlett is survived by her nephew Michael Ratliff, great niece Robyn Gill, great grand-niece Avery Fields and great grand-nephew Mitchell Gill.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.