Marquis Who's Who Millennium Magazine

MILLENNIUM

M r. Hamra is an attorney and the founder and chairman of Hamra Enterprises, which owns and operates 156Wendy’s, Panera Bread and Noodles &Company restaurants inMissouri, Chicago and Boston, and other various real estate projects in four states. Mr. Hamra grew up in Steele, Mo., graduated fromGulf Coast Military Academy and earned degrees in business and law from the University of Missouri. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany. He practiced with Miller, Fairman & Sanford law firm in Springfield and partnered with John Crow before combining his law practice and business operations in his 27,000-square-foot Hamra Plaza office building in 2002. As city attorney for Nixa,

Sam Hamra Lawyer Hamra Enterprises Springfield, MO

Mo. (1965-70), he was instrumental in building the city’s electrical distribution system. As Branson’s governmental relations attorney (1990-2005), he secured funding for widening U.S. Highway 65 to four lanes from the Christian County line to Branson. Mr. Hamra was elected charter president of The Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast (1967), founding member of OakStar Bank, foundation board member for Ozarks Technical Community College, and former board member of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Cox Hospital, Truman Library and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. While serving on Cox Hospital’s board, Mr. Hamra was the driving, negotiating force that made possible Cox’s purchase fromHospital Corporation of America, the Springfield Community Hospital and 40 acres north of Cox, allowing Cox Hospital to expand extensively. The Legal Services of Southern Missouri building was dedicated in 2012 as the “Sam F. Hamra Center for Justice” in recognition of his organizing and serving as its first chairman of the board of Legal Services in 1976. In 2017, he donated $800,000 to purchase land for construction of The Kitchen Homeless Family Shelter on the O’Reilly Campus. Mr. Hamra was named University of Missouri “Alumni of The Year” (2003) and Wendy’s International “Franchisee of The Year” (2009). In 2018, Mr. Hamra was the recipient of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Springfieldian of The Year” award, which is the organization’s most prestigious annual award honoring him for his outstanding community service.

178