An appreciation of the life of Lewis H. Clark, dead at 85, and the community bank he helped craft, Cambridge Trust Company.
Article by Janice M. Sears
After the economic debacle so many banks contributed to in the last few years, one may wonder whether they deserve any good words at all, much less a stellar recommendation. Most don’t, but Lewis H. Clark and the bank he helped create, certainly do. For here the virtues of old-style community banks are revered, practised, perfected.
Location, Location, Location
The headquarters of Cambridge Trust Company are right across the street from the main gate of Harvard University, right in front of the house General George Washington used as his command post while turning the feisty colonials hereabouts into the soldiers who, in due course, humiliated the greatest empire on earth. It’s a special place… and like everything in Harvard’s neighborhood requires equally special services, banking not the least amongst them.
Any banking chain might like… and many banking chains have unsubtly coveted … this location, replete with its hordes of style-challenged Harvard students, the best and the brightest worldwide. It is one of the planet’s signature locations.
However, thanks to the vision of Lewis H. Clark this location and its bank remain resolutely community- centered, Cambridge-centered, service-centered. This is why a tribute is due to Lewis H. Clark, not because he was president and chief executive officer of Cambridge Trust (1980-1991)… but that he used his power and position for maximum community service.
About Lewis H. Clark
First and foremost, he was a Cambridge man. Born in Boston (no one held that against him), he was brought up in Cambridge, went to Harvard College (class of 1947), and went to work at Cambridge Trust Company immediately following World War II service in the US Navy.
During his 45 years with the bank, he served in almost every job, each one being a stepping stone to the next… and each one giving him insight into why a community bank was infinitely preferable to a chain. It was a conviction that would be sorely tested during the go-go years when a cacophony of voices shouted that to get along Cambridge Trust must go along… as one bank merger followed another.
Clark was plain-spoken and adamant. According to retired senior vice president Robert DeGregorio, “He thought the best way to serve the community was to remain independent and not become part of a larger institution. He wanted to be able to control the product and service that was delivered to the community.” Thus, small(er) was always better. Today Cambridge Trust has more than billion in assets with 11 locations.
What makes Cambridge Trust special
Service
Service
Service.
I know whereof I speak.
For about 40 years now, I’ve been an enthusiastic customer at Cambridge Trust. Why? Because they are just so incredibly good at what they do and because other banks are, well, banks. Cambridge Trust understands what other banks mouth but never implement: that banking is first and foremost about people. I have exhaustive information about one of these community people and his particular banking needs. This person is — me!
Item: one day I was toodling around Harvard Square when I told my chauffeur Aime Joseph that I needed to run an errand but had no money. He advised me to call one of the bank officers on the car phone and ask her to withdraw some funds from my checking account so I could just run in and get them.
But Cambridge Trust did better than that. They had, in minutes, the funds at the drive through window for me, no paperwork required. They knew me… and they helped, at once.
Nowadays I often send Mr. Joseph to the bank by himself after I’ve advised an officer on the phone about the funds I need. He picks them up without a signature and brings them to me… so that I don’t have to break into my demanding work schedule. Cool.
Item: One wire after another to Europe sending funds for my burgeoning art and artifact collection.
I am an obsessive collector of European art and artifacts from the 17th-19th centuries. I required a bank equally obsessive about assisting me. Cambridge Trust does… often.
One way is by the very frequent wires they send to auction houses around Europe paying for my latest acquisitions. Over time it became apparent that the volume of wires (not to mention the amounts being wired) necessitated an individual system. Cambridge Trust, truly customer-centered, obliged.
As a result, I could handle everything on the telephone: authorizing the wire amount, faxing auction house paperwork, helping helpful officer Helen Van Nostrand create a system that met my highly particular needs, not least being able to provide those shipping my merchandise with a whole lot of detailed information required by both tax authorities and British and US customs officials.
Item: crystal glass ware
During my first visit to
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