Harry Volk
Harry Volk | |
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Los Angeles, California | |
Education | Rutgers College (AB 1927, LLB 1930) |
Spouses |
Harry Joseph Volk (July 20, 1905 – May 12, 2000) was an American banker and insurance man. Volk joined the Prudential Insurance Company in 1927, and in 1947 was appointed vice-president in charge of the company's western operations. In 1957, Volk left Prudential to become the president of the Union Bank of California. He remained president until 1969, when he was elected chairman of the bank's holding company, the Union Bancorp, and was elected chairman of the bank itself in 1974. Volk retired in 1980.
Biography
Harry Volk grew up in
He joined
Because of his work with Prudential, which included instigating the return of unclaimed funds to beneficiaries, Volk was recruited as chairman and chief executive officer of
In the turbulent economic times of the 1970s, Volk and Union Bank had their setbacks. He took Union into insurance and mortgage banking, only to have California regulators insist that it pull out of those enterprises in 1975. The bank never quite regained its vibrant growth. Many of its higher-level executives departed, and a significant number of the bank's business customers followed them to their new employers. During the bleak days of the mid-1970s, as banks began to fail, Volk managed reductions in staff through attrition, telling a reporter: “There were no wholesale firings. We simply adjusted our staff to the workload.”
While still at Prudential, Volk was asked to head a Los Angeles citizens committee to resolve disputes involving the United Way fund-raising campaign and its recipient charities. Volk set up what he called Associated In-Group Donors, an innovative system for voluntary contributions by employees through payroll withholding. It has now become the standard for nonprofit fund-raising organizations. With that, he persuaded United Way to accept policies for collecting and distributing donations, including a “donor choice” option directing how a contribution could be allotted.[2][3]
Volk was a prime mover in rebuilding Los Angeles's historic
After he retired from Union Bank in 1980, he became head of the Weingart Foundation, a California charitable organization with $155 million in assets established by a longtime banking customer of Volk, Ben Weingart. By the time Volk retired from the foundation in 1993, its assets had increased to more than $500 million.[3]
Volk's wife of 41 years, Marion, died in 1972. He was survived by his second wife, actress Marjorie Lord, who died in 2015. Lord was best known for playing the role of Kathy, the second wife of Danny Thomas, on the long-running television series, The Danny Thomas Show. Volk's stepdaughter is the actress Anne Archer.
References
- ^ a b "Harry J. Volk, Business Executive". Rutgers Alumni News. 5 June 2013.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
- ^ a b c d Oliver, Myrna (13 May 2000). "Harry J. Volk, 94, a Bank Executive Known for Innovations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
- Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
- ^ Sanjana Pai (13 August 2020). "Donald Prell remembered for dedication to UCLA, military and technological service". The Daily Bruin. Retrieved 15 August 2020.