Charles A. Agemian (July 22, 1909 – March 30, 1996) was an Armenian-American banker who took early retirement from

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...

, where he was executive vice president of operations, to become chairman and chief executive officer of the Hackensack Trust Co., which later was renamed Garden State National Bank.

Early life and education

Agemian was born in

Aleppo, Syria )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

and immigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen.Bergen.com: "An Armenian Story: Charles Agemian" by Stephen A. Borg
December 1, 2009 After receiving his B.A. from the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

, Agemian graduated from Columbia Business School with an MBA.

Career

Agemian began his banking career in 1927 as a messenger for the Bank of Manhattan Co. After rising through the ranks in operations, Agemian was named vice president and deputy controller when the Bank of Manhattan Co. and Chase National Bank merged in 1955 to become

. A year later, he became vice president and controller, and, in 1959, controller general. Agemian is known to have had a good relationship with

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and a presidential advisor. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson, helping deal with issues such as German sa ...

, the Chairman of Chase Manhattan. In July 1963, he was named executive vice president of operations of Chase Manhattan Bank, a position he held until his retirement in December 1969. On Jan. 1, 1970, he became chairman and chief executive officer of Hackensack Trust Co. at the urging of Steve Ross (Time-Warner CEO), then chairman of Kinney Services Inc., which was the bank's majority shareholder.

Kinney National Company Kinney National Service, Inc. (later known as Kinney Services, Inc.) was an American conglomerate company from 1966 to 1972. Its successors were National Kinney Corporation and Warner Communications, Time Warner, AOL Time Warner, and WarnerMedia ...

later merged with Warner Bros. to become

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

. Shortly after taking over, Agemian changed the bank's name to Garden State National Bank, and, a year later, merged it with North Jersey National Bank of Hudson County. Because of the Federal

Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (, ''et seq.'') is a United States Act of Congress that regulates the actions of bank holding companies. The original law (subsequently amended), specified that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors must appr ...

, Warner was forced to divest its stake in the Garden State National Bank. After an initial divestiture attempt was derailed by a dissident board member, William A. Conway, who claimed that it allowed

to exit at a profit at the expense of certain minority shareholders, Garden State ultimately merged in 1980 with Fidelity Union Bancorporation of Newark (which later became part of

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

). This transaction required Agemian's resignation from the

board so he could continue as chairman and chief executive officer of Garden State. Agemian retired from Garden State in 1981 but remained active as a faculty member at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

Personal life

A resident of Spring Lake, New Jersey, Agemian died on March 30, 1996, at the age of 86. He was married to Mary Agemian. They had two children: Sandra Borg and Mary Louise Heath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agemian, Charles A. 1909 births 1996 deaths Syrian people of Armenian descent American people of Armenian descent Armenian bankers American bankers Columbia Business School alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Pace University faculty People from Aleppo People from Spring Lake, New Jersey Syrian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American businesspeople