Vernon Noel Hopkins, Sr., 87, of Pensacola, FL peacefully passed away on Friday, March 25, 2022.

He was born in Pensacola to Elbert Wesley Hopkins and Idell Dixon. Growing up in Pensacola, he graduated from Pensacola High School then from the Auburn University, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. He attended U of FL Law and went on to serve in the US Army as a cryptographer.   He had been a resident of Mobile, Atlanta, New York City, Little Rock, Memphis, Dallas, Gulf Breeze, Ocala, Orange Beach and Pensacola.

Vernon had a distinguished career, starting as a stockbroker and advancing in numerous leadership roles in financial services and real estate before retiring from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Smith. He went on to found United Financial Investments in Pensacola, and worked with Paine Weber and Raymond James in Ocala, FL. Vernon's legacy includes successfully working to change national financial services regulations to allow the integration of securities brokerage into state and federal banking.

Vernon was spiritual, a dedicated Christian and philanthropist, supporting Rotary Int'l and founding the American Diabetes Foundation Arkansas Chapter. He went on to serve on the national board of the American Diabetes Association as the National Fund-Raising Chairman.  Vernon was an avid sportsman who loved to bird hunt and fish, he was well known for his marksmanship and tales from the duck blind. He loved to garden and farm and planted the first Kiwi fruit orchard in Alabama. He was fun, generous, high energy and unmatched in his work ethic.

Vernon is preceded in death by his mother and father, daughter, Alison and brother, J.B.

He is survived by his wife Carolyn of 51 years; his sons, Noel Jr., of Fairhope, AL, Jeffrey, of Austin, TX and Jonathan, of Orange Beach; daughter, Vanda Hansard, of Nashville, TN; seven grandchildren; three great grandchildren; and brother, E.W. Hopkins, Jr. of Pensacola, FL.

The family would like to give special thanks to Your Life, Inspiritas of Pensacola for their compassionate care in the final chapter of his life.