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   Robert was born in Winston-Salem on September 22, 1890 to John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes. Attending public schools and the Woodbury-Forest preparatory school, Robert then went on to the University of North Carolina, receiving a B.A. in 1912.  He was president of his senior class. 
   After graduation, he attended Harvard University’s School of Business for one year before returning to Winston-Salem and serving as treasurer of the Crystal Ice Company (1913-1917) until America entered World War I.
   He entered the Second Officers Training School at Fort Oglethorpe in 1917, receiving a commission in artillery as first a lieutenant and later promoted to captain. On May 8, 1918, he sailed with his command to France and fought in the Argonne offensive.
   After returning from the war he joined the Wachovia Bank & Trust Co. serving as vice president until being named president in 1931. 
   In 1939, he was elected president of the American Bankers Association.
   In 1945, He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law from UNC.
   Between 1949 through 1951, Hanes served with the U.S. Economic Cooperation Administration --  the Marshall Plan -- as chief of the Belgium-Luxembourg Mission, chief of the Frankfurt Mission, economic adviser to the High Commissioner for Germany and as director of Economic Affairs for Germany.
   In 1956, he retired as president of Wachovia Bank's.
   Hanes was a trustee of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Salem College and Academy, Winston-Salem State Teachers College (now Winston-Salem State University), the Morehead Foundation and the Research Triangle Foundation. "He was the guiding and leading mind and spirit that gave cohesion to the efforts of all of us involved in the (formation of the Research) Triangle," noted NC Governor Luther H. Hodges in March 1960, when he broke ground for the Robert M. Hanes Memorial Building in the Park. 
   He also was a director of numerous corporations.
   A banker, businessman and civic, state and national leader, Hanes served in both houses of the N.C. General Assembly and was a leader in improving workmen's compensation in the state. 
   Robert M. Hanes married Mildred Borden of Goldsboro on July 3, 1917.

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