In Memoriam: Peter McGrath
A tribute from Doug Stephens
Peter McGrath worked for Chase during a summer when he was in college, and started working for them full time when he graduated from Fordham in 1970. He later got an MBA from St. John's University.
He went through the Chase Training Program, worked in Credit Audit in the mid-1970s and after that worked in what was then called Middle Market lending.
He passed away in March 2013.
Remembrance:
I met Peter at the Chase Manhattan Bank in the 1970s in a department called Credit Audit. We travelled the word together to places like Japan, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Saugerties, NY. Peter was a wonderful travel companion and we always had a blast when we were on the road together.
These are some of the things I remember about Peter:
Dress
Peter was always nattily dressed and the Beau Brummell of fashion. He had these great herringbone suits, blue buttondown shirts and really nice ties. I tried to model my dress style after him and it took work. For Peter it always seemed to come naturally.
Sense of Humor
Peter had a great delivery when it came to jokes. He always had a joke to tell, and I still use some of his material to this day. He had a terrific sense of humor and always seemed to be in a good mood.
Work Ethic
Peter worked quickly and efficiently and was always being recruited to go on trips since he had a facility for reviewing loans quickly and thoroughly. He picked up information fast and this earned him the nickname “Speedy”.
Popularity
Peter was more popular than the Pope. No matter where he would travel, to Europe, to Asia, to South American or in the United States, someone would invariably approach us, typically in an airport, and say to him, “Aren’t you Peter McGrath?” He was a wildly popular guy and frankly I was always amazed and a bit jealous…
Sportsmanship
Peter love basketball and was a pretty good player. We were on a trip to Japan and were challenged to a game of basketball in Tokyo by a local group of workers at the Chase bank there. Although we clearly had the height advantage over our Japanese counterparts, they beat us badly on the court and challenged us to a rematch. Peter was working in Osaka at the time and was asked to come up to Tokyo to play on our team. Thanks to Peter’s court skills, we were able to put in a better showing and, as I recall, we won that game. We got a write-up in the local Chase magazine, and Peter and I cherished that issue to this day.
Family
Peter was a good husband and father to his son, John. He was always so proud of his son’s accomplishments whether on the baseball field or in the workplace. Once when I visited Peter he showed me a report his son had written when he did an internship with a financial services firm.
Peter will be missed, but not forgotten.