Winston Louis Bissette Jr. (’65, P ’94, P ‘97)
By Nathan O. Hatch
February 20, 2020
Today we honor an individual whose decades of service to Wake Forest, to his community, and to the State of North Carolina clearly exemplifies the University’s motto, Pro Humanitate. Repeatedly honored for his legal ability, civic engagement, and promotion of economic development in the City of Asheville, North Carolina, his enthusiastic service and lifelong devotion to his alma mater are likewise deserving of the award we now bestow. I am pleased to recognize Winston Louis Bissette Jr. as a 2020 Medallion of Merit recipient.
Earning his B.A. from Wake Forest in 1965, Mr. Bissette added a J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1968 followed by an MBA from the University of Virginia in 1970. After a few early years in banking, he began practice with the Asheville firm of McGuire, Wood & Bissette in 1976, where he continues today, concentrating his practice in the areas of land use, zoning, economic development, and corporate law.
Mr. Bissette’s expertise in those areas and his affinity for public service helped facilitate the enormous economic growth of Asheville and its now-vibrant downtown. A two-term Mayor of Asheville from 1985 to 1989, he has also served as President and Chair of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and on the Asheville-Buncombe Economic Development Coalition, the Asheville Community Betterment Foundation, the Board of the Mission St. Joseph’s Health System, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Council of Advisors.
Accolades bestowed upon Mr. Bissette include the North Carolina Bar Association’s Centennial Award, Citizen Lawyer Award, and Dr. I. Beverly Lake Public Service Award, as well as North Carolina’s highest award for service, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
While Mr. Bissette’s longstanding passion for excellence in higher education is reflected in his service as a trustee of Western Carolina University and his eight years as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System, which he chaired from 2015- 2018, his deep devotion to Wake Forest is evident in the multiple roles he has assumed as a member of the Alumni Council, the College Board of Visitors, the Deacon Club, as President of the National Alumni Association, Chair of the College Fund, as a five-term member of the Board of Trustees, including as its Vice Chair, and since 2017 as Life Trustee. In 2015, Mr. Bissette’s varied and lengthy service was recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
In gratitude for his leadership that transformed the economy and landscape of Asheville, for his exceptional service to North Carolina’s institutions of public higher education, and especially for his tireless devotion to advancing the mission of Wake Forest, Wake Forest University confers its highest honor, the Medallion of Merit, on Winston Louis Bissette Jr. on this Twentieth day of February, Two Thousand Twenty.