In Memoriam: Philip (Phil) Young, 76

International Corporate Banker at Chase Manhattan

 
 
Philip (Phil) Renwick Young, who worked in international corporate banking for Chase Manhattan from 1970 to 1983, died at 76 on March 24, 2024 at his home in Santa Rosa, CA. He had pancreatic cancer.
 
Born in Pittsfield, MA, Young graduated from Philips (Andover) Academy in 1965, earning a BA in Political Science at the University of Arizona, Tucson, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate. He then attended Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix before beginning at Chase. He was the bank's General Manager in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s. He also served Chase in Hong Kong and in Mexico.

Moving to Santa Rosa in 1992, Phil became an independent Financial Advisor. He was a competitive tennis player and expert skier. Upon retiring, he continued to monitor the stock market and his personal investment portfolio.
 
He and his wife, Cindy, whom he met in college, traveled frequently, especially to their beloved Costa Rica. He loved nature, photography, politics, history, red wine and dark chocolate.He relished Pickleball and was always a loyal A's fan.

He was predeceased by two sons, Jeffrey and Wendell, who died in 2011 and 2012, respectively, at ages 29 and 32.
 
In addition to his wife, survivors include a son (Rob) and two grandchildren.
 
Donations in Young's memory can be made to The Baum School of Art of Allentown, PA, founded by his grandfather Walter E. Baum, a renowned Bucks County landscape artist.
 
 
Remembrances
 
Please send remembrances to
news@chasealum.org
 
From Joe Murphy: Phil, along with 26 newly hired Chase bankers, started banking careers together on June 22, 1970. We were members of the newly redesigned Global Credit Class I, starting at 1 CMP's seventh floor. Many were from everywhere but NYC. All were searching for housing accommodations. And all of us were making new friends – friendships that have lasted these past 54 years.  

     Cindy and Phil shared the news of his illness before Christmas; it was a shock for Dona and me. They composed an email from their second home in Costa Rica. The prognosis was not good. I replied immediately to their email, sharing my own experience and offering whatever help they might need. Thus began some telephone conversations plus email exchanges. Remarkably, as we might expect, Phil remained steadfast. Those childhood and teenage winters in the Berkshires forged his strength.  

    He talked about the outlook and his options and inquired about my experience. I answered his questions with brief replies and listened. What strength. What fortitude.

     After completing the Credit Course in 1972, we all went in different directions, both in terms of departments and geography. I don’t recall if Phil spoke Spanish fluently, but he was off to Mexico City and the Caribbean. Soon he was conducting business negotiations in a second language – no easy task. Our careers were back on the same track in the early 1980s as Phil, Ed Cooper, Vic Cordell and I were in Asia. And our teachers from Global Credit I – Leon Desbrow, Roger Griffin, Peter Holzer and Tim McGinnis – were in leadership roles in Asia Pacific. Strong bonds.

     We continued to keep in touch after we left Mother Chase. On a trip to Napa, Dona and I met with Cindy and Phil. Over dinner Phil lectured me on the finer points of Sonoma wines. He preferred that area to the more popular Napa productions. There was no doubt of his expertise as Cindy and Phil were investing in and advising The White Oaks Winery near their Santa Rosa home.

     Dona and I send our prayers to Cindy and their family. And we recall with fondness your everlasting smiles and joie de vivre.

 

From Robert McDonald: Phil was my savior in the early days in Global Credit and we remained close for our years at Chase. Phil and Cindy helped us move some street furniture from Brooklyn to our first Manhattan apartment, up several flights. We celebrated this modest success thereafter. Patricia and I send our most sincere sympathies to Cindy and the family.

 

From Ed Cooper: Joe Murphy said it all.  After Credit Training Phil and I went to different geographies. About 10 years later Phil moved to Asia and we met in Hong Kong. It was if we had last met the week before. Sending prayers to Cindy and their family.

 
From Victor Cordell: Remarkably, in 1970, Mother Chase organized summer sublets and flatmates for incoming Global Credit trainees in need. Phil was matched with Phil Blaisdell and me into a really grand, three-bedroom (with maid’s quarters), Upper West Side NYC apartment. Phil (Young) and I shared digs, both in the sense of accommodations and arguments, which Phil (Blaisdell) often refereed. Fortunately, our political views converged over the years, and brickbat rebuttals in our discussions turned to huzzahs. Being hometown supporters, we even came to favor the same professional sports teams after gravitating to San Francisco and its environs.

     At the end of that watershed summer, Phil would marry his sweetheart, Cindy, and I just started dating my future wife, Karin. Our collective paths crossed often over time, living simultaneously again in New York after our first overseas assignments, in Hong Kong, and finally in the greater Bay Area, where we got together with regularity over 30 years. We shared many sometimes raucous adventures, as well as the sadness of their tragically losing both of their sons at ages 29 and 32.

     In the mid-nineties, Karin and I had two years of bi-coastal commute in which she was still working in D.C., while I had accepted a professorship in Monterey. Both years we met at Phil and Cindy’s in Santa Rosa to stay with them for Thanksgiving holidays. That began a decade-long tradition that was broken when they had to be away and then started traveling at Thanksgiving. The spirit of their hospitality, which was proffered many other times, lives on.

     Phil loved nature and the outdoors. He and Cindy often vacationed and celebrated events at beaches and mountains. When visiting them, walks were de rigueur. He also played tennis avidly. I could compete with him only when he was nursing an injury. Like many of our generation, he later turned enthusiastically to pickleball, a racquet sport in which injuries have less ground to cover.

     In his final days, Phil opted to take chemotherapy, not because of any irrational hope for recovery or clinging to a few extra days of life. Like many couples, he and Cindy had division of labor, and unsurprisingly, Phil was responsible for all things financial. Despite the sickness that the treatment produced, he felt he needed whatever extra time to be able to document everything that Cindy would need concerning their banking, investments, taxes, insurance and such to carry on.

     At the very end, he insisted that Cindy get a puppy, though he’d resisted their having a dog for some years after their last golden retriever, Ginger, died. The puppy, named Philipa, gave Phil two days of comfort and Cindy a living and lively remembrance (and responsibility!).

    Phil will be missed.

 
From Alan Delsman: Phil was an old timer when I joined the credit training program in September of 1970 vs his arrival in June 1970. I truly appreciated all of his help and advice, as well as a great sense of humor and irony in our learning experience. Post graduation, my wife Barbara and I moved to Brooklyn Heights and Phil and Cindy lived on Remsen Street, a block away our first apartment on Henry Street. Frequent dinners and some volleyball games were a big part of our social life in New York.  A few years later after living overseas, Phil again became a truly great mentor to me as I transitioned to working in Latin America from the Middle East. I was so impressed by his career in the Dominican Republic as well as his fluency in Spanish. What a great experience he had running a full service bank. I will always remember him as such a kind, thoughtful and caring friend.
 
From George Spence: Phil Young joined the Chase Credit Program on the 7th Floor of One Chase Plaza in 1970. In 1979 I went through that rigorous 15-month credit training program, and after graduation, my plans to be transferred to Chase’s subsidiary “Banco Lar” in Brazil were up-ended by an offer to become a corporate banker at Chase’s branch system in the Dominican Republic. Upon arrival in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in January of 1981, I got to know the youthful, personable and dynamic Country Manager, Phil Young, and his charming wife, Cindy.

     Phil wore a beard in 1981, which was highly unusual for a Country Manager at Chase, where I felt the need to report to work each day in a Brooks Brothers pinstripe suit, a highly starched button down collar shirt and Allen Edmonds Park Avenue lace-up shoes…all of this in the unrelenting Caribbean heat.

     Phil gave a splendid example of leadership in the style of our CEO David Rockefeller: accessible, direct, clear, gentlemanly, fair, on top of every opportunity and deal. He brought out the best in every one of us on the staff, and, through example, training and careful recruiting, created a culture of ethical and hardworking excellence that all of his alums remember fondly. He never once demeaned anyone, and he encouraged each of us to grow. His fun-loving humor combined with his respect for honor leaves a lasting legacy.