Longtime Community Banker Gerard M. Banmiller Dies

Press release from JGSCGroup:

Sept. 9, 2022

Longtime community banker Gerard M. Banmiller, passed away at home on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, surrounded by his wife and family. He was 75 years old.

An honor graduate of Bishop Kendrick High School and Suma Cum Laude at Villanova University in 1969, he was born on July 28, 1947 to William J. and Mary Virginia Banmiller in Norristown, Pennsylvania. His father had been a prison warden and served as warden of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia from 1956 until 1961. He often recalled his memories of childhood visits to the penitentiary with his father.

Known to his many friends as Gerry, he was a widely-known and well-respected banker in South Jersey for more than 50 years. His banking career began in 1972 with Girard Bank in Philadelphia. Within a few years, he was directing Girard’s main branch in Center City. In 1976, Gerry joined Midlantic National Bank, becoming the bank’s youngest Senior Vice President by the age of 33.

In 1987, he opened and served as President of Community National Bank in Haddon Township. The bank opened just two weeks before the 1987 stock market crash. Although some predicted the bank would fail, under Gerry’s leadership Community National Bank grew to eight branches before it was acquired by Hudson United Bank in 1999.

In 2000, Gerry started 1st Colonial National Bank in Collingswood. The bank’s opening campaign, called “Gerry’s Back”, featured images of Gerry facing away from the camera, but reminded potential customers that he had returned to banking in the area. On opening day, a few future customers sat in lawn chairs waiting for the bank to open its doors. On the first day, 1st Colonial secured more than a million dollars in deposits and closed more than $500,000 in loans.

Old friends and customers returned to “Gerry’s Bank” in droves, resulting in the start-up becoming profitable within the first six-months of operations. Among the 13 New Jersey and Pennsylvania banks that started in 2000 and 2001, 1st Colonial was the only bank to become profitable in its first year of operations. In fact, within the first year, the bank exceeded its three-year projections for deposits, loans and earning.

As a leader in community banking, Gerry helped hundreds of small businesses to grow and prosper. His desire to help the community lead to him becoming the President of the Collingswood Business Improvement District, which revitalized downtown Collingswood. In addition to his work with local communities, he is the past president of the American Diabetes Association of South Jersey, former vice-chairman of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, and former chairman of the Camden County Improvement Authority. He was also appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve as a Trustee of the Board of the IOLTA Fund.

Gerry served as the bank’s President until his retirement in January of 2020. Following his retirement, he was sorely missed by his customers and employees, who never failed to call and remind him that the bank was no longer the same without him.

After his retirement, Gerry lived with his loving wife Fran Verna in Mount Laurel, until their recent move to Summerville, South Carolina. In addition to Fran, Gerry is survived by three daughters Elizabeth (Matthew) Procida, Sarah (Brian) Nieczpiel, and Rachel Boberg, and his adopted-daughter from a previous marraige Megen (John) Bosco. He was the proud grandfather of Samantha, Matthew and Luke Procida, and Jake and Brett Boberg. He was predeceased by his Brother William Banmiller (Mary) in March of 2020.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday September 9th 2022, from 4 until 8pm at Blake Doyle Funeral Home in Collingswood. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Eastern State Penitentiary by visiting www.EasternState.org/support/donate or by calling 215-236-5111 ext 224.

This press release was produced by JGSCGroup. The views expressed here are the author's own.