SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Former NCUA Chairman and Patelco CU President Edgar Callahan died here today, following a long illness. He was 80 years old.
Callahan came to NCUA in 1981 from Illinois, where he was serving as the director of the state’s Department of Financial Institutions, the regulator for banks, thrifts and credit unions. He served as chairman of the NCUA Board, ushering the agency through one of the most turbulent times in the industry, until 1985, when he left to head the San Francisco-based Patelco, which he built into an almost $4 billion credit union. He retired five years ago from Patelco.
Among Callahan’s accomplishments was institution of the multiple groups common bond policy, which was eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, then reinstated by Congress under HR 1151, the CU Membership Access Act. The multiple groups policy was enacted at a time when thousands of traditional single-common bond credit unions were threatened by the U.S. recession and it allowed many of them to surivve by diversifying their membership.
"Ed Callahan was a modern day pioneer in the credit union movement. He showed his concern and passion for credit unions as a regulator in Illinois, as Chairman of NCUA, the founder of Callahan and Associates, CEO of Patelco Credit Union and as a philosopher, a visionary, and a doer," said NCUA Chairman Michael Fryzel, himself a Callahan protégé, who also came out of the Illinois DFI.
Callahan is survived by his wife Linda and six of his eight children.
