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The passing of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig on Saturday brings to mind a spring 1988 event hosted by the old Norwest Bank. Mr. Haig was the speaker at a gathering the bank hosted for 1,400 of its private banking customers in Minneapolis. I got to visit with Mr. Haig during a pre-event reception. 

I remember that Lloyd Johnson, who was chairman, president and CEO of Norwest, presented Mr. Haig with a peace pipe as a memento of his trip to Minnesota.

Mr. Haig talked about the upcoming presidential election, in which then-Vice President George Bush was to run against Michael Dukakis. He also talked about the world political stage. Here is how I wrote about it in the May 7, 1988 edition of Commercial West:

Regarding the world economy, he said the world is shifting from polar domination to multipolar domination. “By the year 2000 the United States and the Soviet Union will not dominate the world as they do now,” he said. By the middle of the 21st century, he added, China and India will enter the class of Super Powers.

Al Haig was an early Republican candidate for president in that 1988 campaign. By the time of the Norwest event, he had dropped out. Someone asked if he would ever run for president again and he responded “never say never.”

John Ruan, owner of Bankers Trust, the largest independent bank in Iowa, passed away yesterday. He was 96.

Mr. Ruan, one of the titans of Iowa business and civic circles, is best known for starting a trucking company, now called Ruan Transportation Systems. He was a major positive force for the city of Des Moines, and in 1990 started a foundation that assumed sponsorship of the World Food Prize.

The 36-story Ruan Center is a hallmark of the Des Moines skyline; Mr. Ruan also is responsible for the construction of the 14-story Two Ruan Center and the downtown Des Moines Marriott Hotel.

“In John Ruan’s day, they called them self-made men — individuals with guts, determination and an ability to anticipate marketplace trends. Today a man like Mr. Ruan would be called an entrepreneur, a visionary. His spirit did not come from seminars or books, but rather life experiences and a belief in himself and the people around him,” said Suku Radia, who met Mr. Ruan in 1975. Today, Radia is president and CEO of Bankers Trust, which has been in the Ruan family since 1964.

Here is the press release issued by Ruan Transportation Corp. Here is the story in the Des Moines Register.

Bill Seidman is one of the most interesting people I have ever had the privilege of covering. He died yesterday at the age of 88. News reports said he suffered a brief illness before passing away in Albuquerque, N.M.

Seidman became chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1985, the same year I started covering banking. By then, he had considerable high-level political experience. A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., he came to Washington D.C. when Rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan was named vice president. When Ford quickly became president, Seidman found himself setting up shop in the White House. He worked with Alan Greenspan, who chaired President Ford’s Council of Economic Advisors.

At that time, one of the big issues Seidman worked on was lending to less developed countries. Seidman was part of the regime that encouraged it, a position he later said he regretted. In the 1993 book he authored, “Full Faith and Credit,” he writes the “recycling of petro-dollars” was viewed as prudent policy. In hindsight, he writes, they should simply have encouraged oil producing countries to make the loans directly, rather than through the American banking system.

Seidman left Washington during the Carter years and early Reagan years. When William Isaacs resigned as head of the FDIC in 1985, Seidman was asked to become the 14th leader of the agency that was relatively obscure at the time. As the ag, oil and real estate crisis would develop, the agency soon would gain prominence as it resolved more than 200 bank failures a year by the end of the decade.

In “Full Faith and Credit” (which, sadly, appears to be out of print), Seidman notes that one of his first issues as FDIC chairman was dealing with Citicorp’s decision to reserve for 30 percent of its loans to less developed countries, an action precipitated by the policy Seidman had helped to develop during the Ford years.

Seidman was in the thick of the banking crisis, which started in Texas and then moved to New England. At the same time, banks in the Midwest were suffering from the ag crisis. Meanwhile, things were falling apart in the savings and loan industry and when the Resolution Trust Corporation was set up to handle assets from failed S&Ls, Seidman was named head of that agency, too.

When one thinks back on the late 1980s, it becomes amazing to realize the extent to which the White House and its U.S. Treasury Department were not engaged in the financial stress of the day. It is a much different scenario today where Treasury and President Obama (for better or for worse) are in the thick of the issues. In the late 1980s, the head of the FDIC/RTC was the most powerful player in the financial services regulatory game.

Seidman had a sharp wit and spoke candidly with bankers and reporters. He named his dog “Proxmire” after the Wisconsin Senator who headed the Banking Committee in the late 1970s and again in the late 1980s. He got into a political fight with President Bush’s Chief of Staff when he ridiculed a John Sununu plan to pay for the S&L clean up with a fee for opening bank accounts. He called it the “Reverse Toaster Tax,” playing off the idea that banks used to give customers premiums for opening accounts. The label stuck in the press and Sununu’s plan was dead.

Bill Seidman was the right guy at the right time, in terms of bank regulation. He was an accountant by training, so he understood the numbers. He had been a bank director. He also had owned a television station, so he understood what it was to comply with federal regulations. And he had some political savvy. He was very accessible to the press. We ran a feature on him in December of 1987, including a cover picture of him on the balcony of his office, with the Washington Monument in the background.

After he left the FDIC, he spoke to banker groups many times, and made hundreds of appearances on television as an expert analyst on financial and banking issues. I reviewed “Full Faith and Credit” shortly after it came out. I mailed him a copy, which ran in our Oct. 16, 1993 edition, and he sent me back a flattering hand-written note.

A couple of conclusions Seidman draws are worth reviewing, and seem particularly timely despite having been published 16 years ago. Consider: “Do not try to achieve social goals such as community reinvestment, minority lending, publicly supported housing, etc., through private-sector financial institutions.”

And, at the conclusion of his book, he writes: “The accomplishments of the United States of America are unmatched. Our future is bright. We have the American advantage: We are the freest people in the world. There is more opportunity for our people to move up economically and educationally than in any other country in the world. We have the skill and abilities of a multiracial nation. Our innovation and flexibility make us the leader in the industries of the future. If we do not allow ourselves to be destroyed by voting more from the federal treasury than we are willing to provide in taxes, our success will continue.”

Carl Pohlad passed away Jan. 5 at the age of 93. His family issued this statement:

The following statement was issued today by Jim, Bob and Bill Pohlad, the three sons of Carl Pohlad:

Earlier today, our father, Carl Pohlad, passed away. We were all with him when he died. He has been resting peacefully in his home for the last several weeks.

Carl was the leader of our family as well as the builder and leader of our family businesses. We’ve loved and respected him and are enormously proud of his accomplishments. We will miss him deeply.

We greatly appreciate the support and prayers of our friends, colleagues, employees and community. We especially appreciate the support of our employees throughout the Pohlad family of companies at this difficult time. We want to reassure everyone that we will go forward – just as Dad would have wanted and as he has prepared us to do.

A complete biographical sketch of Carl Pohlad follows.

Carl Pohlad: Private Man, Public Figure

Carl Pohlad was a born entrepreneur. Throughout his life he combined a strong intuition, keen understanding of people, intense work ethic and abundant patience to become one of Minnesota’s most successful business owners. He was revered by his employees and respected by business colleagues around the country.

The Pohlad businesses encompass banking, financial services, beverage, entertainment, real estate and automotive industries, as well as ownership of the Minnesota Twins. His private companies employ 3,000 people across 33 states. They include: Marquette Financial Companies; Marquette Real Estate Group/United Properties/NorthMarq Real Estate Services/NorthMarq Capital/RJM Construction; River Road Entertainment; Twin Cities Automotive/Twin Cities BMW of Minnetonka/Coon Rapids Chrysler Jeep; Northern Lights Broadcasting/KTTB-FM (B96)/KRBI-AM; JB Hudson Jewelers; Marquette Technology Companies/Inetium/Arcadia Solutions/Avtex (all IT consulting companies); Acclaim Benefits; and the recently sold Stanton Group. The foundation Carl established with his family has given more than $100 million to the community.

Despite his success, Carl was regarded as a “regular guy.” He treated people from all walks of life with respect, retaining a soft spot for the little guy, and never forgetting his humble beginnings.

Carl was born in Valley Junction, Iowa on August 23, 1915. During Carl’s childhood his father was employed as a railroad brakeman and was often away. His mother was always helping others in need and working hard for the things the family of nine required. During the Depression all of the children helped make ends meet. Among his many jobs, Carl delivered the laundry his mother did for wealthy families and swept floors at a local bank.

An average student at best, he nonetheless excelled in history and spelling, leading to his life-long love of reading. An outstanding athlete, he learned from his coaches who were patient, wise, caring and focused. A classroom teacher whose discriminatory practice of separating students — by where they lived, how their parents earned a living, their ethnic heritage or the color of their skin — left a lasting impression on him.

Carl graduated from high school and attended Long Beach City College in Los Angeles and Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, both on football scholarships. But his part-time job collecting car loans was so successful he left Gonzaga one semester shy of completing his degree.

After Gonzaga, Carl moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and became a partner with his future brother-in-law Russell Stotesbery in the Federal Discount Corporation (FDC), which operated loan offices in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

In 1942, Carl’s career at FDC was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After basic training, he fought in France, Germany and Austria as a private and later as a second lieutenant. He was awarded two Bronze Stars, an Oak Leaf Cluster, and three Purple Hearts. After World War II, Carl returned to FDC and was promoted to general supervisor early in 1946, becoming an expert in reorganizing bank departments.

In the fall of 1946 while working in Minneapolis, Russell insisted that Carl and his brother, Harold, take two young women from Dubuque to the University of Iowa vs. University of Minnesota football game. Carl’s blind date with Eloise O’Rourke would last until the wee hours of the morning, long enough to fall in love. On April 22, 1947, they were married and began their married life in a small Dubuque apartment just around the corner from Eloise’s childhood home.

Eloise was the perfect partner for Carl. She enjoyed caring for their home, was very socially adept and completely supportive of her husband’s business interests. Their marriage was blessed with three sons: James O’Rourke, Robert Carl and William Michael in 1953, 1954 and 1955 respectively. While Carl moved in ever-widening circles out into the world, Eloise kept her sons close and unspoiled by their family’s growing notoriety. After Eloise’s death on November 20, 2003, Carl would mourn her for the rest of his life.

Banking and financial services

In 1952, Carl moved to Minneapolis to work at Marquette National Bank. Three years later, after the sudden death of Russell, Carl assumed the presidency of the bank and its holding company, Bank Shares, Inc. During the next three decades under Carl’s leadership, the bank grew through the acquisition of a number of community banks throughout the Midwest.

In 1982, Marquette acquired Farmers & Mechanics Savings and Loan, an unusual merger of a commercial bank and a savings and loan that established Carl as a major player in the independent banking industry. In 1992, he sold Marquette National Bank to First Bank. After the sale, Carl created a new private bank that catered to business owners, Marquette Capital Bank. Marquette also added consumer/commercial branches that offered customers the personal attention of smaller, neighborhood banks combined with big bank products and services.

Carl envisioned a banking enterprise stretching from Minnesota in the north to Texas in the south. Marquette Bancshares acquired several community banks in and around Dallas and Houston. Marquette Bancshares also would diversify by purchasing small commercial, consumer and specialty finance companies under the umbrella organization of Marquette Financial Companies (MFC).

In 2001, Carl was once again approached by an interested buyer. Typical of many of Carl’s deals, the transaction began with a phone call, this time from Jim Campbell, then president of Wells Fargo Minnesota. By August, the deal was finalized to sell Carl’s major bank holdings (108 offices and $5.6 billion in assets) to Wells Fargo.

MFC then expanded in businesses not included in the sale — its specialty finance companies and Meridian Bank in Phoenix, Arizona. MFC also acquired new specialty finance companies that fit its strong risk management and entrepreneurial culture and launched de novo start-ups into market opportunities.

Business diversification

Banking may have been Carl’s first and most important business, but he began to diversify early in his career. Investments in transit followed Carl’s service on a Governor’s Commission charged with saving Twin City Rapid Transit (TCRT). After helping resolve TCRT issues, Carl served on the board of its parent company, Minnesota Enterprises Incorporated (MEI). Carl was instrumental in helping MEI acquire additional transit assets, including the West Towns Bus Company of Chicago and Trans Texas Airlines.

Carl entered the bottling business with a 1962 investment in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Pepsi bottling plant. Carl went on to acquire several bottling plants throughout the U.S., which were later purchased by MEI Corporation.

MEI Corp also would own a wine distribution company, restaurants and snack manufacturing companies, but the bottling business would provide the foundation for its success. In 1983 MEI Corp would become a Fortune 500 company for the first time. A few years later, in 1986, MEI Corp sold and merged most of its bottling assets with PepsiCo, Inc.

A few years later, Carl began to acquire Pepsi bottling businesses again. Those operations, through a series of mergers, grew to later become a highly successful public company, PepsiAmericas, which is a Fortune 500 company with operations in the United States, Central and Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.

In addition to bottling and real estate, Carl had long been interested in professional sports – a natural extension of his own team experience and competitive spirit. With his 1984 purchase of the Minnesota Twins, Carl made a public vow to revitalize the ailing franchise, saying, “I think the Twins can only go one way – up.” In 1986, he told the press, “I don’t find it easy to lose, and I don’t propose to continue.” One year later, the Twins were World Champions – a feat the team repeated again in 1991.

The Pohlad legacy

When all is said and done, Carl Pohlad was a regular guy from the wrong side of the tracks who made it to the big league.

He received many honors throughout his life: an honorary doctor of law degree from his alma mater, Gonzaga University; Minnesota Business Hall of Fame; American Academy of Achievement; Great American Award from B’nai B’rith International; City of Minneapolis, Distinguished Services Award; Minnesota Executive Hall of Fame; and the Horatio Alger Award, to name a few.

Carl certainly will be remembered in different ways. Those closest to him will remember his quiet strength, determination and natural warmth. Those who met him will remember his infectious smile, how he eagerly made their acquaintance and made them feel special in the process.

Baseball fans will remember him as the owner of the only Minnesota professional sports team to win a world championship – twice. Many Minnesotans will view the new Target Field as his legacy, with reactions that run the full spectrum.

Nonprofit community organizations will remember him for generous financial support from both MFC and the Pohlad Family Foundation, and in-kind community support from the Minnesota Twins.

Business leaders will remember him as a man who made banking history, who took pleasure in their accomplishments as well as his own. Those who were involved in negotiations will remember his patience to make the best of every deal. In the words of Don Benson, one of his closest associates, “Carl sees possibilities in a situation that no one else sees.”

The Pohlad business holdings will continue under the stewardship of his three sons: James, director and EVP of Marquette Financial Companies, director and VP of Pohlad Companies, member, executive committee of the Minnesota Twins; Robert, chairman and CEO of PepsiAmericas; and William, CEO of River Road Entertainment and president of Pohlad Family Foundation. Each company’s management team, many comprised of long-term associates, remains in place. And a third generation of Pohlads is beginning to work in the family business.

Carl was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Eloise; his parents, Mary and Michael Pohlad, and six of his seven siblings. He is survived by his sons Jim, Bob and Bill Pohlad, their wives Donna, Becky and Michelle respectively, and seven grandchildren Tom (and wife Lindsay), Joe, Chris, Allie, Charlie, Kiki and Oliver.