Robert George "Bob" Wilmers (April 20, 1934 – December 16, 2017) was an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

banker. He was the chairman and CEO of

M&T Bank M&T Bank Corporation (Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company) is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 1680 branches in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts ...

from 1983 until his death in 2017, except for an 18-month break in 2005 - 2006.Joe Nocera
The Good Banker
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', May 30, 2011

Early life and education

Robert George Wilmers was born in New York on April 20, 1934, as one of three children to Charles Wilmers, an executive with the Belgium utility holding company,

Sofina Sofina, ''Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles'', is a Belgian holding company, headquartered in Brussels with offices in Singapore. As part of the Bel20 index, it is one of the twenty largest capitalisation in Be ...

, who would eventually become its president, and his wife Cecilia. He grew up in New York City and Belgium. His sister

Mary-Kay Wilmers Mary-Kay Wilmers, Hon. FRSL (born 19 July 1938) is an American editor and journalist. She was the editor of the '' London Review of Books'' from 1992Brooks, Richard"''London Review of Books'' £27m in the red – but it isn’t counting" ''The ...

is the editor of the

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

, the well-known literary journal. He graduated from the

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

(1956), and attended the

Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Career

He started his career at

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpor ...

Co. in 1962, served in New York City government under mayor

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...

as a financial official in the 1960s, then went on to work at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. He served as chairman and CEO of M&T Bank and its subsidiary, Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company (M&T Bank) since 1983. In 1992, the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

at Buffalo School of Management named Wilmers Niagara Frontier Executive of the Year. In 1991, the Greater Buffalo Chamber of Commerce named him Western New Yorker of the Year. He received honorary degrees from

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

(1988),

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

(1991) and the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

(2004). He was cited by

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

in 1987 and 1994 as a Citizen of the Year. Wilmers retired as CEO in 2005 but returned 18 months later after his successor, Robert Sadler, stepped down from the post and later received the 2005 American Banker Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2008, Wilmers was awarded Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the President of France. In December 2011, he was named Banker of the Year by American Banker.Matthew Monks
A Throwback Approach Keeps Wilmers, M&T on Top
''

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a Manhattan-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, with an online edition continuing to be updated. The first issue of ...

'', November 30, 2011 He purchased Chateau Haut-Bailly, a winery in

Bordeaux, France Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, in 1998. He served as chairman of the

Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

from 2008 to 2009, chairman of the New York State Bankers Association in 2002 and as a director of the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New ...

from 1993 to 1998. In 2011, he was named "banker of the year" by ''

''. In 2016, together with several partners, he purchased a group of newspapers in western New England, including ''

The Berkshire Eagle ''The Berkshire Eagle'' is an American daily newspaper published in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and covering all of Berkshire County, as well as four New York communities near Pittsfield. It is considered a newspaper of record for Berkshire Cou ...

'' of Pittsfield, MA. In January 2017, the rising value of bank stocks meant that Wilmers had become a billionaire.

Personal life and death

His widow Elisabeth Wilmers is French, and they owned

Château Haut-Bailly Château Haut-Bailly is a Bordeaux wine from the Pessac-Léognan appellation, ranked among the ''Crus Classés'' for red wine in the Classification of Graves wine of 1953 and 1959. The winery and vineyards are located south of the city of Bordeaux ...

from 1998 until his death, as well as the nearby property Château Le Pape from 2012 onwards. Wilmers died at his home in New York City on December 16, 2017. The cause of death was a heart attack while recovering from a recent surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmers, Robert 1934 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American billionaires Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York Harvard Business School alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni American bankers American chief executives of financial services companies Harvard College alumni