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SCOTLAND has long been famous both
for its banking system and for the financiers which it has produced. The
Bank of England, doubtless the strongest financial institution in the
world, was founded in 1694 upon a plan formulated by a Scotchman. Almost
every important banking house in London has a son of Caledonia among its
leading spirits. A similar statement can be made of many banking
institutions in the United States and Canada. Scotchmen by birth
or
descent are among the leading financiers of our large
cities.
Foremost among bankers of the new
world stands a Scotchman, James Berwick Forgan, Chairman of the Board and
former President of the First National Bank of Chicago, one of the leading
institutions of America. His career is one of constant and sustained
advance. Mr. Forgan was born in
St. Andrews, April 11, 1852, son of Robert and Elizabeth Berwick Forgan,
studied at Forres Academy, Forres, and Madras College, St. Andrews, and
entered the employ of the Royal Bank of Scotland, St. Andrews, at the age
of seventeen. Having finished his apprenticeship of three years in that
institution, he obtained a position with the Bank of British North America
in London, who later on sent him to their branch in Montreal, Canada.
After filling various clerical positions in the Montreal, New York and
Halifax branches, he accepted a position in the Bank of Nova Scotia in
Halifax, in which institution he rapidly arose to higher appointments. He
became successively agent at the Bank of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and
Woodstock, New Brunswick, and was
then promoted to the position of Inspector of Branches.
By this time his reputation as an able and forceful banker had been fully
established.
In 1885, he came to the United
States and established in Minneapolis a branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Three years later, at the invitation of the directors of the Northwestern
National Bank of Minneapolis, he accepted the cashiership of that
institution, which under his management was soon recognized as one of the
strongest institutions of the Northwest.
Mr. Forgan had become a banker of
national reputation and when in 1892 the First National Bank of Chicago
looked about for a man of the highest executive ability as Vice-President
of the institution, its choice fell upon Mr. Forgan. He was elected to
that office and at once took hold of its affairs with a master hand. He
was virtually chief executive of
the bank in the early part of 1897, when Mr. Gage, until then President of
the bank, entered the cabinet of Mr. McKinley as Secretary of the
Treasury. In January, 1900, Mr. Forgan was elected President of the Bank.
The importance of the institution may be seen when it is pointed out that
according to its published statement its capital is $10,000,000, its
reserve $10,000,000, and its deposits exceed $115,000,000. In addition to
these figures may be quoted those shown by the First Trust and Savings
Bank, an institution closely united with the First National Bank and
started less than ten years ago upon Mr. Forgan ‘s initiative with a
capital of $1,000,000 taken from the surplus of the First National. It has
now a capital of $5,000,000, a surplus of $3,500,000, and deposits of
$54,000,000. Mr. Forgan resigned from the presidency of both institutions
January 11, 1916, and became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
First National, which is the controlling body of the two banks.
Mr. Forgan is
also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Security Bank and of the
Second Security Bank, and President of the Federal Advisory Council under
the federal reserve bank law. He is a director of the American Radiator
Company, Standard Safe Deposit Company, National Safe Deposit Company,
Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Fidelity and
Deposit Company of Maryland, Chicago Title & Trust Company and the
Guarantee Company of North America.
Mr. Forgan is not only a banker of
the foremost rank, but also a citizen of the highest standing in his
community. While his great ability, his powerful intellect are recognized
throughout the banking fraternity of the world, only those who are closely
acquainted with him know the fine qualities of his character and the
generosity of his heart. By the staff, both official and clerical, of the
various institutions under his control he is looked up to with
affectionate devotion. By the creation of a generous pension fund he has
set himself a monument in the hearts of his men more enduring than the
magnificent bank building which upon his initiative has been reared in the
heart of Chicago’s business district. He is a trustee of the Presbyterian
Hospital and a patron of numerous other charitable and philanthropic
institutions. He is a member of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, and in
1916 was elected President of the Illinois St. Andrew Society. He is
active in many clubs and organizations. Mr. Forgan married, in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Mary Ellen Murray, daughter of Donald Murray, merchant. They
have four children, Robert D., Mrs. J. Wilhemina Ott, Donald M. and James
B., Jr. Mr. Forgan resides at 1415 North Dearborn Street, Chicago.
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