MERCED, Calif. – Officials and members of Merced Schools FCU last week were mourning the death of Robert Wayne, the 86-year-old community activist who co-founded the now $370 million credit union in 1954.
Wayne and the late Bill DeSimone chartered the teachers' credit union in 1954 with seven members who each chipped in $5, according to Nancy Deavours, the credit union's current chief executive officer who started there 32 years ago. In the early days as a volunteer officer, Wayne kept members' records in a shoebox at his home. In 1957, he left his teaching job at Hoover Middle School and became the credit union's full-time manager.
In the late 1980s, Wayne took five of the original seven investors to lunch and gave them back their $5, according to Deavours, who succeeded Wayne as CEO in 1993.
Wayne was a director in the California Credit Union League and active in credit union activities at the local level.
The credit union's annual meeting in March will be dedicated to Wayne and a training room at the North Merced headquarters on Olivewood Drive is named in his honor.
