SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Edgar Callahan-the man who first gave credit unions the ability to reach out beyond their core sponsors-died last week after a long illness.
Callahan had a lengthy career in credit unions, including a six-year term on the NCUA Board. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in the fall of 1981, and served as NCUA chairman from Oct. 22, 1981, to May 3, 1985.
Callahan is credited with several innovations and improvements, including a reduction in federal CU operating fees and improved efficiencies that resulted in reductions in NCUA's headquarters and field staffs. During Callahan's term as NCUA chairman, a 12-month examination cycle was enacted to ensure every FCU was examined each year for the first time since the mid-1970s, NCUA said in a statement.
Chip Filson, CEO of Callahan & Associates, which was founded by Ed Callahan, said the news of Callahan's death was "still a shock" even though Callahan had been in hospice for many days.
"I don't think there has been a more important person in the credit union movement, period, in the past 50 years," said Bucy Sebastian, the CEO of GTE FCU, Tampa, who worked under Callahan at NCUA. "The genius of Ed Callahan was taking hi good, Midwestern common sense to Washington, D.C. If everyone in Washington and on Wall Street who were running the agencies and the banks had Ed's common sense and business sense, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today."
Filson said Callahan added much to CUs, from his "incredible success at Patelco" to his NCUA days, which brought institutional reforms and the capitalization of the insurance fund.
"But the thing that will impact the credit union system the most is his field of membership changes," Filson said. "Field of membership was a relic, but Ed had a core concept that every American should have access to a credit union. He rolled back the structures of fields of membership. When he got to NCUA, the best estimates were 40 million to 45 million credit union members. Today, that number is approximately 90 million, using the same call report estimates. That is an impact on credit unions and their role in America."
Callahan is credited with taking the NCUA Board on the road, holding monthly board meetings across the country and bringing the regulatory process to the credit union community, NCUA said. Callahan also led a grassroots campaign that encouraged credit unions to overwhelmingly support capitalizing the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. The NCUSIF had dropped below a .30% equity ratio as the result of record closures in the wake of widespread economic instability.
To forestall credit union closures, Callahan introduced a field of membership expansion policy and a merger policy enabling credit unions to expand beyond weakening industries and businesses stifled by pockets of decline in the auto industry and manufacturing. As a result, NCUA said, the recapitalized and restructured NCUSIF became a model federal fund and credit unions gained the ability to expand and evolve when faced with sponsor closures and membership declines.
Callahan was inducted in the Cooperative Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Herb Wegner Award presented by the National Credit Union Foundation in 2003.
Callahan is survived by his wife, Linda, and six of his eight children.
