Edward E Crutchfield

Ed Crutchfield who grew Charlotte’s First Union into one of the largest banks in the country and helped shape the city’s growth has died. His son told the Charlotte Observer Crutchfield died Tuesday January 2 2024 at 82. He had dementia. Crutchfield started running day-to-day operations at First Union Bank as its chief executive officer in 1984, the organization had $7 billion in assets. That’s not bad for a regional bank in western North Carolina, but it was a mere blip on the national scene. By the time the man the banking world dubbed “Fast Eddie” stepped down because of a bout with cancer in 2000, First Union was a $258 billion bank — the sixth largest in the country. Crutchfield earned his nickname by making more than 100 banking acquisitions during his 16 years at the helm of First Union. In the process, he turned Charlotte into one of the world’s major banking centers. After earning his MBA at Wharton in 1965, Crutchfield returned to North Carolina to become a banking bond analyst. In 1972 at age 32, he was president at First Union, the youngest at that position at any major bank in the country. By the time, he retired as chairman in 2001, First Union was the sixth largest bank in the country and had acquired more than 80 companies in 15 years. He stepped down at the age of 59 after a lymphoma diagnosis. The bank merged with Wachovia later in 2001 and was bought by Wells Fargo in 2008 during the banking crisis.