John G McCoy

Born in Marietta, Ohio, on Jan. 30, 1913, the oldest of five children of John H. and Florence McCoy. His father was an oilman and banker who moved the family to Columbus in 1930s after the governor of Ohio asked him to supervise the closing of banks that had failed during the Depression. In 1933, his father became president of City National Bank and Trust. John G. McCoy attended Marietta College in Ohio. He also graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with a master’s degree in business administration. Mr. McCoy joined City National in 1937. He married his wife, Jeanne Bonnet, in 1941. She died in 2006. Besides his son, of Columbus, Mr. McCoy is survived by a daughter, Virginia McCoy of Kansas City, Mo.; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. In 1958, after his father died, Mr. McCoy became president of City National Bank. He changed the name when he created a bank holding company that became known in 1979 as the Banc One Corporation. But the bank’s branches, like Bank One Columbus, used a “k” in the name. A 1991 article in The New York Times described Banc One as the best-run bank among regional powerhouses and “perhaps the best bank in America.” During Mr. McCoy’s son’s tenure, Banc One became one of the country’s largest banks, when it purchased First Chicago Bank for $21 billion. After the merger, the bank moved its headquarters to Chicago. John B. McCoy resigned in 1999 after the bank had earnings shortfalls. The board hired Jamie Dimon as chief executive in 2000. JPMorgan Chase bought Banc One in 2004. Chase later changed the name of its two-million-square-foot corporate offices in Columbus to the McCoy Center. A version of this article appeared in print on April 6, 2010, on page B18 of the New York edition.