Longtime Vantage CU CEO Hoosman, a 'titan' of credit unions, dead at 60

Hubert Hoosman, Jr., the former CEO of St. Louis-based Vantage Credit Union, died earlier this month in a car crash. He was 60 years old.

Hoosman retired from Vantage in 2013 after leading the credit union for 19 years. That same year he was honored with a Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Individual Achievement, recognizing his efforts related to education, partnerships with local schools, his involvement in helping found the African-American Credit Union Coalition, raising funds for the national Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington and more. He was also inducted in 2013 into the AACUC’s Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement. Since his retirement, Hoosman had reportedly been running a realty firm and brokerage company with his wife.

An East St. Louis native, Hoosman joined Vantage (then known as Educational Employees CU) in 1982, and over 30 years rose through the ranks to serve as loan officer, department manager, branch manager, vice president and EVP. In 1994 he was named president and CEO, and during his 19 years leading the institution he oversaw its growth from $34 million in assets to nearly $700 million upon his retirement. EVP Eric Acree took over upon Hoosman’s retirement and today the credit union has more than $848 million in assets.

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In addition to serving with the AACUC, Hoosman also served on the board of directors for the Missouri Credit Union Association, first from 1994-1995 and then from 1997-2009, including a stint as board chair from 2005-2007.

Tim Anderson, president and CEO of Government Printing Office FCU and chairman of the AACUC, called Hoosman "a titan" of the credit union community.

"His passion for credit unions was unparalleled. We will always remember his work in the credit union industry, but more importantly, his work as a servant leader. He was a humanitarian among humanitarians," wrote Anderson.

Hoosman, added Anderson, was "a man who lived life helping others. He embodied the credit union motto of people helping people."

“It will be difficult to find another person as dedicated to the credit union industry and his community as Hubert," Judy Hadsall, board chair of the Heartland Credit Union Association, and president and CEO of CU Community CU, Springfield, Mo., told CUNA. "He believed and lived the 'people helping people' philosophy every day. His efforts are seen in St. Louis, nationally and even internationally through his work with the African American Credit Union Coalition, which he was a founder, as well as other countless efforts. He was a friend to all, supporter of economic justice and advocate of financial literacy. We lost a truly special person.”

Funeral services for Hoosman were held earlier this week in St. Louis. A number of members of the African-American Credit Union Coalition were reporteldy in attendance.