Remembering Jeff Gerhart

How sad to learn of the passing of Jeff Gerhart, the former president and CEO of The Bank of Newman Grove, Neb., and the 2012-13 chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America. .I remember visiting Jeff in 2012 to write about him ahead of his ICBA chairmanship. I drove to Newman Grove, which is 126 miles northwest of Omaha. The Bank of Newman Grove was the only bank in the town of 797 people. Jeff’s father, Bud, was chairman of the bank at the time; Bud had been chair of the ICBA exactly 40 years prior to Jeff, who was 59 years old as the ICBA gavel was passed to him. Jeff showed me around town, including a park where the bank had just made a donation toward the construction of a gazebo where concerts and other community events could take place. We ended up at a diner to have lunch across the street from the bank. I offered to pick up the tab but when I reached for my wallet, the waitress told me they didn’t accept credit cards. Well, I had no cash on me at the time so Jeff graciously stepped in to pay for the meal. Jeff showed me the town’s bowling alley, grocery store and a community-owned medical clinic. There was a steak house set to open about a month after my visit. The bank and other investors agreed to support the launch of the restaurant, with the hope that someone would come along and buy it once it proved viable. I never heard whether the eatery survived. There was also a nursing home and an assisted living facility, in addition to a weekly newspaper in town. Newman Grove was quintessential small town America. And the Gerharts were a key part of it. In the late 1800s, E.H. Gerhart moved to Newman Grove from Pennsylvania, taking a job at the Citizens State Bank in Newman Grove. In 1900, the bank switched to a national charter. E.H. bought controlling interest in the bank in 1909 and was president until his death in 1944. H.L. “Buzz” Gerhart had been working at the bank and became president upon the death of E.H. He served as president until he died in 1989. His son, H.L. “Bud” Gerhart, Jr., started working in the bank in 1953 and became president in 1967. He passed away at the age of 89 in 2018.Jeff joined the bank in 1977 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1975 and working in banks in Colorado. Jeff was elected to the executive council of the Nebraska Bankers Association in 1987, and served as president of the Nebraska Independent Community Bankers in 1989-90. He has been active in the ICBA since the mid-1980s. Jeff and his wife, Becky, traveled around the country while Jeff served in the leadership of ICBA. Jeff told me that when he was going to high school in Newman Grove, he was ready to leave town. He said he wanted to be a journalist. His father arranged for him to travel to Sauk Centre, Minn., where he spent time with Bill McDonald who was the editor of the Independent Banker, ICBA’s membership magazine. Jeff said he ultimately decided not to pursue journalism, which left him available to pursue banking, which pleased his father. Nonetheless, Jeff was a writer and he kept a journal to record his experiences traveling for ICBA. Many of the entries, he told me, were accompanied by drawings he made with colored pencils. There were drawings of people, locations and discussion topics, he said. The Bank of Newman Grove had $35 million assets when Jeff served as ICBA chair. A decade later, the bank had only added another $1 million in assets when he sold the bank at the end of 2021. The buyer was the Citizens State Bank of Wisner, Neb. Jeff and I would have lunch occasionally when he would come through the Twin Cities. He was a thoughtful person, who remained interested in banking issues even after he sold the bank. Seventy-three seems way too young for such a vibrant person to pass. I miss him already.