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Ben Love, icon of banking and charitable causes, dies(Houston Chronicle (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 15--Benton F. Love, who led Texas Commerce Bank to prominence and became a fixture in Houston civic and philanthropic circles, died Friday evening of cancer. He was 81. Love spent 22 years at Texas Commerce, most of them as president of the bank or its parent company, Texas Commerce Bancshares. He helped revolutionize Texas banking with modern business practices that emphasized aggressive sales and marketing. Under his guidance, Texas Commerce Bancshares expanded until it became the state's second-largest lending institution. After mergers with other banks, TCB became JPMorgan Chase, now the largest bank in Texas. Love was involved in scores of civic and charitable activities. He was the first chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, which arose from the merger of the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council in 1989, and spearheaded bond projects and infrastructure initiatives. He was active in fundraising at the Texas Medical Center, leading a campaign that brought $150 million to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and another for $200 million to the University of Texas Health Science Center for its Institute of Molecular Medicine. Love served on dozens of boards -- including those of private companies, smaller nonprofit groups and larger institutions -- and a like number of local committees and advisory groups. "Ben Love was arguably one of the two or three greatest businessmen in Texas," former President Bush said in a statement. "Besides, he was generous in spirit and always good for helping others." "Ben Love was a dear friend who did as much as anyone to modernize Houston," said Mayor Bill White. "He took organizations such as M.D. Anderson, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Grand Opera to world-class status. He came to Houston in 1947 with little more than a good war record and built two great businesses by brilliant management. When he walked into a room, even those who didn't know him understood they were in the presence of a leader. For a couple of decades, Ben Love was 'Mr. Houston." " Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 5300 Main. A reception will follow in the church's fellowship hall. Longtime friend James A. Baker III praised Love as a great banker and a great man. "We will miss this titan whose intellect, integrity, hard work and vision improved not only the banking industry but the entire community he dearly loved," said Baker, the former U.S. secretary of state who served on the TCB board at Love's request. "Ben Love epitomized everything that is good about America." Love's arrival at TCB, after 17 years as a business owner and two years as head of River Oaks Bank and Trust, marked a transition in banking. He was among the pioneers in Texas banking to bring an organized and modern business approach to a historically passive institution. "Ben changed the way Texas Commerce and all banks in Texas marketed," said Phil Conway, president of JPMorgan Chase, the corporate descendent of Love's bank. "Prior to Ben's arrival, banks did not go to customers, the customers came to the bank. Ben initiated the approach of sending bankers out. It seems so ordinary today, but it was revolutionary at the time." Taking advantage of changes in banking laws, Love pushed growth through mergers, acquisitions and new branches. He hired the brightest college graduates and established rigorous training programs. He insisted his commercial bankers become experts in their customers' fields. "Ben also developed the culture at the bank that everyone knew," Conway said. "He had the book out there about how bankers were to look and act and talk. It was a science to him. And at the time it was revolutionary." David Mendez, Chase CEO in Texas, remembers him as a "giant" in the banking industry. "While a lot of changes have taken place since Ben retired, we still remember and employ the philosophy of this great man," Mendez said. "He insisted on excellence, a relentless determination to win, total accountability and being a servant-leader in the community. We called it the TCB spirit, and it is still alive today." Love's successor, Marc Shapiro, said he was a demanding leader who expected more from himself than anyone else. "I feel that's the mark of a leader," Shapiro said. "I think his other great skill was his ability to communicate. He understood the way few people do the power of communication." Shapiro said Love thought Texas Commerce could be key to Houston's emergence as a major city by having the lending power so clients did not have to go out of state for capital. "He realized banks played a key role in providing fuel for the growth of the economy," Shapiro said. Love devoted much time to civic interests, which reflected his belief in his role as the head of a major bank and his affection for his adopted hometown. Participation and involvement are fundamental," Love said in an oral history done in 1971 by the University of Texas business school. "I believe I speak for my contemporaries when I suggest that we believe it would represent our responsibility to Houston to be involved and to contribute time and money and effort in keeping this a great city. Are we suddenly to become selfish with our own time? This city makes great demands. It has great financial needs. You are called upon to awaken people constantly on civic, charitable and cultural drives." "He was one of the loudest proponents of Houston in the city, and he was well-respected around the world," said Jim Kollaer, former president of the Greater Houston Partnership. Kollaer likened Love to "an elder of the tribe" and said he was driven to improve the city. He cited Love's support for rail and numerous building projects and said he and a few others were instrumental in keeping the Astros in Houston. "He was always thinking of what would be happening 25, 50 years downstream," Kollaer said. "He was a long-term, strategic, visionary thinker. I think he truly believed it was important for individuals and institutions to move the community forward. There are individuals who are so dedicated to the towns they live in that they are driven. He certainly was." The Texas Medical Center, which during his time grew to the world's largest, received special attention. He served on the advisory board of the Memorial Hospital System, the development board of Hermann Hospital and on the Board of Visitors at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. John Mendelsohn, president of M.D. Anderson, said Love's commitment was unflinching. "He was on just about every board I know of and raised money for competing institutions," Mendelsohn said. "I guess people had trouble saying no to him. That says a lot for him." Mendelsohn said he never got the sense that Love wanted credit for his charity work. "I think he gained tremendous personal satisfaction out of making the world a better place, in almost a religious sense, though that is not the way he would describe it," Mendelsohn said. "There was never a hint, never an indirect action or statement, that tried to draw credit to himself. It's amazing. There are very few people like that." Born in Vernon in 1924 to Benton and Nell Scott Love, he moved with his parents to a family farm near Paris after the Great Depression wiped out both his father's job as a cotton broker and the family savings. As he later recalled in personal journals, the influence of that economic strain was profound. Early on, he was determined to make something of himself, starting with academics. His mother was a former schoolteacher who thought the local school was inadequate. So Love rode a horse 12 miles each way to school in Paris. He excelled in his studies, graduated near the top of his class and was a champion debater. Love began college at tiny Trinity College in Waxahachie and later transferred to the University of Texas. His education was interrupted by World War II, and in 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, for which he became a pilot. Based in England, Love captained B-17 bombers over Germany in 1944 and 1945. One of the fortunate fliers to complete the requisite 25 missions without injury, Love was awarded numerous citations, including the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, Love finished his business degree at UT and moved to Houston, which had impressed him during his training at Ellington Field. He worked briefly for a wholesale paper company and then started his own company, Gift-Rap Inc. His novel idea was to sell wrapping paper on rolls instead of the individual sheets that were then common practice. The company, begun on a shoestring in a tiny warehouse, became very successful. As it attracted the attention of -- and competition from -- major paper companies, Love decided to merge with Gibson Card Company. A year later, Gibson was acquired by CIT Financial Corp. Love later recalled that his brief time associated with Gibson and CIT gave him invaluable insight into how major corporations were managed and functioned. During his ownership of Gift-Rap, he served on the board of directors of River Oaks Bank. With his entrepreneurial zeal winding down, Love decided to go into banking. He approached a friend at the bank and was offered the job as president. His businesslike approach, which included establishing deposit and earnings goals and an aggressive advertising and marketing campaign, prefigured his tenure at TCB. Determined to head a big downtown bank, Love was hired by Texas Commerce Bank as a senior vice president in 1967 to head its metropolitan division. He moved up rapidly and was made president of the bank in 1969. Two years later, he became president of Texas Commerce Bancshares. He retired in 1989, not long after overseeing a merger with Chemical Bank in New York. Unlike most Texas banks that were savaged and in many cases ruined by the depressed oil and real estate markets of the 1980s, TCB stayed afloat. "Texas Commerce survived for two reasons," Conway said. "First, the real estate and energy groups here dealt with a higher level of client bases than many organizations had. The quality of our clients was the thing that saved it, and that's a direct credit to Ben because that's something he stressed. "He also orchestrated the sale to Chemical Bank, which brought $1.4 billion of shareholder value when everybody else was selling out for nothing," Conway added. "I think TCB would have survived and struggled with the Texas economy, but Ben had the foresight to say let's join up with a stronger partner and not go through the agony of other banks. Why fight this battle alone?" Love is survived by his wife, Margaret McKean Love; son Jeff Love and daughter-in-law Kathy; daughter Jan Love Simmons and son-in-law Tom; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Julie Love. The family will receive visitors 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Home, 1010 Bering. |