The late Ed Crutchfield built First Union into a banking giant. A look at his career
Ed Crutchfield, who died Tuesday at age 82 at his Florida home, was a major force in the banking world during his decades spent in Charlotte.
Here’s a timeline of his career.
July 1941 — Crutchfield is born in Detroit, and raised in Albemarle, Stanly County, an hour east of Charlotte.
1965 — Crutchfield joins Charlotte-based First Union as a 23-year-old bond trader.
1973 — He is named president of the bank.
1984 — Crutchfield adds the title of chief executive officer.
1985 — Crutchfield’s expansion era begins when First Union enters Florida; he’s also named board chairman.
1988 — The bank opens its 42-story headquarters tower in uptown Charlotte.
1993 — First Union jumps to No. 9 among publicly traded banks with acquisitions in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Tennessee.
1996 — The bank becomes the nation’s sixth-largest with the $5.9 billion purchase of First Fidelity in New Jersey.
1997 — First Union buys Signet Bancorp. of Richmond, Virginia.
1998 — The bank buys CoreStates Financial Corp. of Philadelphia, the Wheat First Butcher Singer brokerage firm and The Money Store consumer lending chain.
March 2000 — Diagnosed with lymphoma, Crutchfield steps down as CEO but plans to remain chairman through 2001. Bank President Ken Thompson succeeds him.
June 2000 — First Union announces a restructuring that will include cutting thousands of jobs, shedding poorly performing business units (including The Money Store) and a $2.8 billion charge against earnings.
August 2000 — Crutchfield tells employees his cancer is in remission.
October 2000 — Thompson announces that Crutchfield will step down as chairman on March 1, 2001, some 10 months ahead of schedule.
Jan. 2, 2024 — Crutchfield dies peacefully at his home in Vero Beach, Florida.
