Kid Brother

The Rocky Mountain area got a big new bank last week to finance its burgeoning industries. At the helm was an old name in banking--George Eccles, younger brother of the Federal Reserve Board's Marriner Eccles. To set up the biggest banking operation between Omaha and California, the Eccles-owned First Security Bank of Utah and the First Security Trust Co. were merged with the First National Bank of Salt Lake City. The new institution, called the First Security Bank of Utah, National Association, has resources of well over $300 million, and more than 40 offices (including affiliated Eccles-owned banks in Idaho and Wyoming). As president, George Eccles will run things by virtue of his family's controlling interest.

Handsome, gregarious George Stoddard Eccles, 48, little resembles his solemn brother. George dances indefatigably, frequently breaks 80 at golf, heads the Ogden (Utah) Livestock Show. Unlike Marriner, who did not go beyond high school, George went to the University of California and Columbia. After graduation, he became assistant cashier at the family's First National Bank of Ogden. As president of the bank, Marriner was his boss.

As the empire grew, George moved up; when Marriner left for Washington in 1934, George took over. Though headquarters of the new bank will be in Ogden (pop. 43,700), the Eccleses' home town, George hopes to operate on a much broader scale than ever before. He believes that "a bank should be an instrument of growth, not just a place for people to put their money." In helping the Northwest to grow, ambitious George Eccles hopes to grow right along with it.

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