ELYRIA — Northern Savings and Loan stopped being a locally operated bank months ago when it was bought out by Warren-based First Place Bank, and now the local leadership is gone, too.

Neal Hubbard, who served as president of Northern S&L, has ended his tenure with the company and is now running a private law firm with his son, Barry Hubbard.

Hubbard had been with the banking institution, now operating as First Place Bank, for almost 52 years. He started out while still in high school when his father, Eugene Hubbard, held the bank’s top position.

STEVE MANHEIM/CHRONICLE

Neal Hubbard is focusing on a law firm now that his banking career is over.

However, under the merger agreement with First Place Bank, Hubbard was only extended a one-year contract. It was not renewed at the end of the year, he said.

So, on Dec. 27, Hubbard cleaned out an office that was his second home for many years.

“It’s amazing how much stuff one can accumulate in 50 years,” he said. “I still have stuff that I have no idea where it will go. I have a lot of memories that are now in boxes.”

Hubbard’s departure ends a legacy that started in the 1920s when his father joined the bank as a secretary under Elyria real estate magnate and bank founder J.C. Crisp. Hubbard said he can still remember visiting his dad as a youngster in the old Masonic Temple building, where Northern S&L got its start in a one-room office. The elder Hubbard worked his way up to president and CEO.

Hubbard said always knew he would go into the business, and in 1957, while still in high school, he did so working as a courier for his father. He continued on a similar path traveled by his father, working at the bank through a short stint in the military, Baldwin-Wallace College and the Cleveland Marshall Law School.

Finally, in 1986, Hubbard succeeded his father as president.

“He was born and raised in the bank, and his entire education was focused on banking,” former bank board member Bill Shepherd said. “He grew the bank with the community in mind and did a wonderful job at it.”

Upon first impression, Hubbard might have seemed standoffish or cold, but anyone who got to know him in his capacity at the bank knew he was dedicated to the community, said Martin Rowe, a former vice president who started at age 27 working under the elder Hubbard as a bank teller and stayed on for 31 years.

Each day he greeted customers by name with a smile on his face and his outstretched hand.

“I learned a lot from him. He knew things didn’t always go by a rulebook, and when they didn’t, he would say, ‘Let’s see how we can make this work.’ That was his favorite saying,” Rowe said. “He started in that era where deals were done with a handshake.”

Multiple offers to purchase the bank had been made over the years because of Hubbard’s expertise, Shepherd added.

But it was not until early last year that Northern S&L finally gave in to a merger.

Hubbard said Northern S&L started out with one goal: to help people finance homes.

“We took people’s savings and deposits and lent it to people to build homes,” Hubbard said.  “It was that simple, but now its certificates of deposit, checking accounts, IRAs and commercial loans. When I started, there were three commercial banks and two savings and loans in Elyria, all headquartered in the county.

Now the only savings and loans institution that is headquartered in Lorain County is First Federal of Lorain.”

However, when First Place Financial Corp. approached Northern S&L, Hubbard said it was obvious the $71.5-million buyout deal would give customers more services from an institution with further reach. As such, when the plan was put before shareholders in June 2006 about 83 percent were in favor of the merger.

At that time, the Hubbard family only owned about 10 percent of the stock.

“Most people thought the Hubbards owned Northern Savings and Loan,” Rowe said. “But they didn’t. They just ran it like they did.”

Contact Lisa Roberson 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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