William Silent Hughes, 84; Investment Banking Executive

William Silent Hughes, former president of the independent investment banking firm Wagenseller & Durst Inc., has died. He was 84.

Hughes died Sunday at his San Marino home of degenerative heart disease and complications of old age.

He was a governor of the New York Stock Exchange from 1966 to 1969 and a governor of the Pacific Stock Exchange from 1978 to 1984.

Hughes also was a governor of the National Assn. of Security Dealers, a governor of the Investment Bankers Assn. and an adviser to the New York Stock Exchange on regional firms.

The Wagenseller & Durst firm, which Hughes headed from 1948 until 1979, changed ownership in 1979, with Hughes becoming vice chairman and a director.

“We have never been interested in selling our company to a large national organization,” Hughes said at the time, “so this combination of new ownership and younger management will permit Wagenseller & Durst to remain independently active in this field.”

Hughes, a Los Angeles-area resident since infancy, was graduated from Los Angeles Polytechnic High School and UCLA. He was a founding trustee of the UCLA Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Marion; two daughters, Dorothy Matthiessen and Adele Berwanger, and eight grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in the Freeman Chapel of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

The family has requested that memorial donations be made to the UCLA Foundation.