Prominent North Dakota banker dies at 78

Leland Manford Stenehjem, Jr., former president and chair of Watford City, N.D.-based First International Bank and Trust, died Feb. 28 at his home in Phoenix at the age of 78..Stenehjem was born on Sept. 16, 1945, in Watford City, N.D. After graduating from high school in 1963, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and a law degree in 1970 from the University of North Dakota School of Law. He later received a master's degree in law from George Washington Law School in Washington, D.C..Stenehjem served as the North Dakota banking commissioner, before leading the state's Office of Management and Budget from 1983-85. He was then named chair of First National Bank of Fessenden, which later became First International Bank and Trust. .Stenehjem was president and vice chair of First International Bank & Trust until he retired in 2007. Stenehjem, ICBA chair in 1996-97, was the first second-generation chair, following his father, Leland Stenehjem, Sr., who had served in the position 32 years prior. .Stenehjem was Northwestern Financial Review's Banker of the Year in 1997.