A prominent member of Silicon Valley’s exclusive “1 percent” club is pulling his money out of Bank of America and cutting all ties with the bank — and he hopes others will follow his lead.

Mike Fox Sr., a beer magnate and well-known philanthropist, is set to announce Friday that he is divesting his long-held personal Bank of America account, which contains several hundred thousand dollars, in an effort to promote social and economic justice.

Fox said Thursday that he has also asked his executive team to move a $4 million-plus line of credit held by M.E. Fox & Co. from Bank of America to another institution. Fox’s firm is a 46-year-old wholesale distributor of beer, water, New Age beverages and Red Bull energy drink.

“I think the only way I can influence people is through my personal example,” said Fox, 75, who called the amount he was divesting “rather small compared to the egregiousness” of Bank of America’s slow response in modifying home mortgages.

Colleen Haggerty, a Bank of America spokeswoman, on Thursday declined to comment on the matter “due to customer privacy laws.” But last month she told this newspaper that the bank has made more loan modifications than any other lender and had modified more than 193,000 mortgages in California since the housing crisis began in 2008.

Bank divestiture also is a key goal of Occupy Wall Street, the nationwide protest movement against corporate greed. Its members say they represent the “99 percent” of the U.S. population that lives under the financial thumb of the richest 1 percent.

The activists are urging Americans to participate in “Bank Transfer Day” on Saturday by moving their money out of big banks into local community banks and credit unions.

Fox’s divestment is being coordinated with San Jose-based People Acting in Community Together, a multiethnic interfaith organization that champions social justice issues.

Group leaders say the nonprofit has been trying for two years to work with Bank of America to reduce the amount of principal in loan modifications but haven’t come to an agreement. They say similar efforts by PACT’s sister groups across the country with Wells Fargo and Chase also have failed.

Fox’s announcement comes a month after another PACT member, the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East San Jose, decided to divest its $3 million Bank of America account.

Gina Gates, a PACT leader who belongs to the church, said the group is elated by Fox’s move.

“We have been working on this campaign for two years trying to negotiate with banks — and particularly Bank of America — to work with homeowners to keep people who can pay for their homes and give them viable modifications,” she said.

Gates believes Fox’s action will spur other customers of big banks to move their money.

Fox said he doesn’t know where he’ll take his banking business, but mentioned local banks as an alternative.

Fox said PACT talked to him about divesting a year ago, but he told them it would be too complicated and expensive. The tipping point, he said, came when “all this stuff happened with banks.”

Explained Fox: “The inability of banks to give loans to people, from small-business loans to home loans and mortgages — the banks sort of shut down, and that was an impediment to a lot of people.”

Fox said Bank of America’s recent decision to cancel its planned $5 monthly debit-card fee after weeks of customer outrage still wouldn’t persuade him to do business with Bank of America officials.

“I’d be polite with them, and I’d meet with them,” he said. “But the decision has been made.”

Contact Tracy Seipel at 408-275-0140.