Sheppard established the Loomer-Mortenson Scholarship and was active in efforts to amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act during his term as ACA International president.
1/27/2021 9:00
Dalton Sheppard Jr., ACA International’s 1985/86 president who was active in advocacy and education efforts throughout his career in the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry, died Jan. 24 at the age of 84.
One of his first goals as ACA president was to establish a scholarship fund to assist dependent children of ACA employees in furthering their education. The scholarship was named in honor of his friends and colleagues, I.D. “Dempsey” Mortenson and Robert E. Loomer
Sheppard was installed as the 47th president of ACA at the Annual Convention & Expo in 1985. He brought to the presidency a substantial range of knowledge from many experiences, including serving two terms as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
As an industry leader, he served on many state and national committees in addition to the ACA Board of Directors, where he formed lifelong friendships, according to his obituary.
Sheppard served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months after graduating from high school. When he returned to his home state of South Carolina, he started a credit reporting and collection agency. His company, Creditdata, became the statewide distributor of TRW (now Experian), according to his obituary. He eventually sold his company to TRW before developing a second career in commercial real estate, according to the book ACA’s First Fifty Years.
An early task that Sheppard undertook during his term as president was to help amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to cover the actions of attorneys just as it did collectors.
He earned ACA’s International Fellowship of Certified Collection Executives certification in 1977 and the James K. Erickson Continuous Service Award in 1989.
Sheppard is survived by daughters Adell Keen (Henry), Pam Hoskins (Tom) and Valerie Wallace (Scott).
Pictured above:
Dalton Sheppard Jr. and his daughter Pam at the July 1985 convention president’s banquet in Boston.
Holly Norcutt, a junior at the University of Minnesota majoring in elementary education and the daughter of Maxene Norcutt, ACA International’s head bookkeeper, receives the first Loomer-Mortenson Scholarship check from Sheppard Jr.