Recollections
of John Bascom……. Manufacturers Bank 1965-1992
In 1965 I
was a graduating senior at the
My first
job was as a trust accountant in the probate section of the nascent Trust
Department. One of my first “internal
clients” was young Second Vice President Dick Heiss, already highly regarded
for his intellect, ability and professionalism.
I’ll never forget his withering gaze but calm, helpful attitude when I
was called to his office to discuss an accounting I had done (frequently
incorrectly) for one of his clients.
After about
six months, I was transferred to the Credit Department. John Mays was the
Credit Manager and Jerry McDonald the Assistant. Jerry gave me my first formal performance
review with the bank, which was quite mediocre. We worked hard in Credit with
an eye on advancement, but we had plenty of fun, too. I was nominated “social chairman” for the
analysts. The Credit Department summer
picnic and the Christmas Party were legendary for joyful excesses. The credit analysts occasionally lunched
discretely at the Newspaper Club on Griswold, an establishment that was ahead
of its time in featuring scantly clad waitresses. On Friday afternoons the Term Loan Committee
was attended by senior management from
After
“graduating” from Credit, I received what I considered a plumb assignment in
the Metropolitan II loan division. The
late Don Buchanan was my boss there, a man of tremendous energy and
imagination. Don’s warp speed style of
business was frustrating at first, but I learned more about lending from him
than anyone else during my years at Manufacturers. He became a career long confidant' and later,
when he reported to me, a loyal and capable ally. After Don was promoted to Metro North
Regional Head, I was privileged to continue to work in Metro Loans II under Bob
Wandell and Assistant Division Head Jerry McDonald.
Beyond
Don Buchanan, Bob Wandell and Jerry McDonald, I was fortunate to have
a number of other mentors in commercial lending.
Of course Sy Sylvester was every lender’s mentor, a man of imposing
strength, wisdom and character-an inspiration to all who knew him. But another unlikely mentor to me, and one
of the most important in my career, was Ty Stansberry, the dreaded Loan
Controller (all the sour work out deals).
Although I never reported to him, Ty (another banker who loved
life, people and the occasional lunchtime cocktail) took an interest in
me, boosted my confidence and taught me a great deal.
Now gone from this earth, I will never forget the help he gave
me.
Later I was
transferred to the Metro East branch region as a commercial lender under Bob
Clark, the consummate branch banker. Bob
was another great teacher, and was supported by his affable and popular
operations officer, Jim Davies, a man who truly loved life and people. A few years later I was privileged to be
promoted to my first management position at age 29, Vice President and Metro
East Regional Head. Paul Hussey assigned
Bob Laurion to be my operations officer.
I was at first intimidated by Bob’s strong presence and dour
demeanor. We immediately became great
friends as I quickly grew to like, respect and trust Bob, yet another fine soul
at Manufacturers who went far above the call of duty to help me. There were so many fine branch people I had
the chance to work with in Metro East, too numerous to mention them all. But what a pleasure it was to work with
George Zedan who lived and breathed the bank; he set the standard for our
culture of dedication and customer service in the branches. And I’ll never forget Kenny Reynolds’ deeply
lined face as he studied his poker hand with a cigarette dangling from the
corner of his mouth and a can of beer in his free hand during one of our
evening get togethers.
Paul
Hussey soon asked me to head up the Marketing Department, where I had
the privilege to work with more fine people, including Bernie Lund and
the energetic and optimistic Don Hooper (who would later again be my close
colleague in Retail Banking). I
enjoyed Marketing and after a few years was asked to assume responsibility
for the Consumer Loan Department, at the time somewhat of a rag tag step
child department within the Bank. There
I was promoted to First Vice President and later Senior Vice President.
I must say, of all the assignments I was fortunate enough to have,
I found Consumer Loans the most enjoyable and satisfying. I’ll never forget my good and trusted colleagues
there including Art Morrison, Marilyn Worrell and John Andre (now all
deceased- God bless their memories and their souls) as well as rock solid
Luki Daneliuk and talented Pat McQueen.
After
Consumer Loans, I again returned to the commercial side responsible for middle
market banking. Later Tom Fisher, Chip
Miller (two fine and respected colleagues) and I would head up the three
Community Banking Divisions. When Paul
Hussey announced his retirement, Chip was promoted to head the Trust
Department, Tom was put in charge of all branches and small business lending,
and I was asked to assume Paul’s duties as head of Retail Banking-great
opportunities for all three of us.
Paul’s retirement was bittersweet; a well deserved transition for a man
who had worked hard and made a difference, but who would be dearly missed. In my Retail role I was fortunate for the
support of more wonderful people like Judy Rinkus, Bardette Hicks, Gerry Berry
and Jan Mandeville (taken too early from this life).
After the merger
with Comerica, I left in1993 and went on to have a wonderful opportunity to
serve as President of the Magic Line ATM network, until its sale and my
retirement in 2000. I’m pleased to say
that I am enjoying retirement in northern
As I look
back on my twenty-eight years with Manufacturers Bank, it was a fine bank and a
wonderful place to work. But more
importantly, to me it represented a culture that stood for pride of workmanship,
service to the community, fairness and decency.
At the end of the day, it was an alliance of remarkable people; it left
its mark on me, and I only hope that in my small way I was able to leave a
positive mark behind for others.