MBNA co-founder Charles Cawley dies

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Charles Cawley, the legendary leader of  credit card giant MBNA, has passed away. Services are scheduled for Saturday.

Cawley and a group of Maryland Bank executives founded MBNA in a former supermarket south of Newark.

Another co-founder was Cleveland industrialist Alfred Lerner who had a controlling interest in Maryland Bank. The bank was later sold, with MBNA being spun off into a standalone company.

The handful of top managers at  MBNA remained nearly intact for many years, earning eye-poppingly  large salaries that were often a water cooler topic in corporate Delaware.

The company grew into one of the nation’s largest  credit card issuers  by focusing on affinity cards for non-profit organizations and universities, such as Penn State.

It also eschewed math formulas  and used people in making credit-granting decisions. Efforts to diversify operations had mixed success and made it a target as full-service  banks looked for ways to diversify.

MBNA was later acquired by Bank of America, which at last estimate, employed 7,000. Employment at MBNA,  at its peak, totaled 10,000 or more  in Delaware.

MBNA was also known for its community involvement and support of non-profit organizations. MBNA and Cawley were major supporters of the Grand Opera House, the Ministry of Caring and other organizations.

MBNA also contributed a large number of scholarships to the University of Delaware for students from poor and moderate income families in Delaware.

The presence of MBNA masked the continuing downsizing of corporate mainstay DuPont, which went from 25,000 to a current headcount of about 7,000 in recent decades.

He also created a distinctive corporate culture. In an era when casual business wear was becoming more popular, he insisted on suits and ties for men, even when working at a desk, with the suggestion that attire be purchased at Jos. A. Bank, a Baltimore-based clothier.

Cawley maintained his Baltimore and Maine roots with an MBNA presence in both areas.

Fred Sears, CEO of the Delaware Community Foundation, said it is hard to overestimate the impact of Cawley on the nonprofit and philanthropic communities in Delaware.

Sears took note of a number of family foundations that came out of fortunes made on company stock.

Also, many of the company’s talented executives remain and put their expertise to work in Delaware and the region, according to Sears, a former banker.

Cawley said in interviews that the business attire was influenced by memories of his father going to work wearing a suit and his belief that wearing a suit aided in the performance of an employees.

Cawley also loved vintage automobiles and corporate jets, with the company having fleets of both. A shareholder activism and scrutiny by regulators intensified  in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such frills grew increasing criticism.

Under Cawley, MBNA built a new headquarters in downtown Wilmington after becoming frustrated with county restrictions and transportation problems around the original complex in Ogletown. It acquired other sites around the county. Many have been sold off, although a handful remain.

The massive downtown  complex remains as a Bank of America site,  although much of the square footage has been vacated and used for schools and other purposes.

Bank of American continues to remain active in the community, but its charitable activities differ from the more free-form style of Cawley.

Cawley had resided in Camden,  Maine and Florida  in recent years and reportedly had been in poor health. He also had a home in Wilmington.

Cawley, who spent time in Maine as a child, had spearheaded construction of credit card centers in that state.  Bank of America has gradually reduced is presence in the state as it works to cut costs.

He has been credited with helping to change the economy of the parts of Maine where the bank had operations, even after the successor bank trimmed back employment or closed sites.