WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--E.M. “Eddie” Downer III has retired from the Board of Directors of Mechanics Bank, effective December 31, 2013. Mr. Downer, grandson of the bank’s founder E.M. Downer, served as Chairman of the Board from 1981 to May 2010, and held the title of Chairman Emeritus until his resignation. He also served as president of the bank from 1971 to 1981.
“We thank Eddie for over fifty years of service,” says D.D. Felton, the bank’s chairman and a great granddaughter of founder E.M. Downer. “He believes in the importance of taking good care of employees, and supports the tradition of community service set by the bank’s founder.” Ms. Felton announced the election by the Board of Mr. Downer’s son, Douglas Downer, to serve out the remaining few months of Mr. Downer’s term. Another son, E. Michael Downer, currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Downer is the third generation of his family to lead the bank where he began working as a child. Throughout his Mechanics Bank tenure he maintained extensive professional and civic affiliations throughout the Bay Area and encouraged bank employees to do likewise. His long list of community activities has included serving as a board member of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership; and on the boards of the Richmond Museum Endowment Fund and the Richmond Art Center Endowment Fund. He also is a board member of the Bay Area Tumor Institute and Northgate Cottages – Silverado, and Trustee of the Captain John Spencer Scholarship Fund. He is a former president of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and was active in the Contra Costa Business Leaders Alliance.
In the past he has served on the Board of Regents of John F. Kennedy University, on the advisory board of the St. Mary’s School of Economics and Business Administration, as a committee member of the Contra Costa Business Leaders Alliance and as a board member and chairman of the Western States Bankcard Association. He also is a former member of the Center for Ethics and Social Policy, Pacific School of Religion.
Mechanics Bank has supported several other organizations in which Eddie has an interest: the Richmond Boys Club, the East Bay Region of the United Way of the Bay Area, the Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation, the Memorial Youth Center, the International Institute of the East Bay and the East Bay Community Foundation, the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
About Mechanics Bank
For more than a century, Mechanics Bank has been committed to helping people build prosperous communities as a trusted financial partner, forging lasting relationships through teamwork, respect and integrity. The $3 billion independent bank, based in Northern California, offers personal banking, business banking, trust, brokerage and wealth management services. For more information, please visit www.mechanicsbank.com.
