O. Howard Wolfe (Philadelphia, PA)
O. Howard Wolfe (January 7, 1882 – August 6, 1969)
Biography
- Name: O. Howard Wolfe
- Birth: January 7, 1882, Philadelphia, PA
- Death: August 6, 1969, Milton, Pike Co., PA (and is buried there)
O. Howard Wolfe was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 7, 1882, the son of Oliver and Anna Moyer Wolfe. On September 4, 1920, he married Elizabeth Roehm of Norristown at old St. David's Church in Radner. They had two daughters.
Mr. Wolfe retired as vice president of the Philadelphia National Bank in 1949. An active outdoorsman in his youth, Mr. Wolfe first visited Pike County, Pennsylvania as a young man around 1900. In 1934 he purchased a summer home at Fairview Lake and in June 1950 he moved to Milford as a permanent resident.
The banking career of Mr. Wolfe paralleled the growth of the Philadelphia National Bank which became one of the nation's foremost banks. In 1899 he joined this institution and became a vice president in 1915 and also assumed the duties as cashier in 1919. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, the Association of Reserve City Bankers, and the Bank Officers' Club of Philadelphia. He served as secretary and later as president of the clearing house section of the American Bankers' Association. He contributed greatly to the advancement of banking techniques and helped establish the universal numerical transit system. He was co-author of the bank collection code and chairman of the committee drafting the Pennsylvania State banking code. He developed the "pay as you go" checking system (often known as economy accounts), popular with the public.
During World War I, Mr. Wolfe resigned as cashier to accompany the YMCA in France, serving first with the First Division, Allied Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and later as Chief of the Bureau of Personnel in Paris. In one of many letters written in France, he describes the indifference of Parisians to the German long range gun known as Bertha which could bombard Paris. "Even though I am away from the front for the present, Mr. Boche sees to it that we don't forget there is a war going on. Bertha... generally begins about breakfast and keeps it up all day of intervals of say twenty minutes."
On four occasions the government called him to serve in emergency matters. He was first summoned to Washington in 1914 to serve on the organization committee of the Federal Reserve Banking system. In 1932 he was loaned to the government to organize and manage the Philadelphia Agency of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. One month after Pearl Harbor, he was asked to serve as chief administrative officer of the US Army's Philadelphia Ordnance District, a position he held for two years. In 1944 at the request of the Treasury Department, he was transferred to the position of executive manager of the War Finance Committee for Pennsylvania.
O. Howard Wolfe authored three texts on banking and numerous articles for banking publications. He was one of the organizers of the Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University and was a member of its faculty for many years. He served as president of the Township Board of Commissioners of Radner, was a member of the Radner School Board and the Baldwin School Board. His formal education consisted of graduating from Radner High School; he later received an honorary degree of Doctor of Law from Rutgers.
For a number of years after his retirement, Mr. Wolfe taught local high school seniors banking procedures. Each year the four top students in the class were rewarded with a trip to Philadelphia and a tour of the banking district, financed and conducted by Mr. Wolfe. He was greatly interested in history which he would point out "was being written every minute." He was a member of the Pike County Historical Society and when he found there was little information available on the Sylvania Colony which Horace Greeley was connected, he wrote "Socialism, Pike County and Horace Greely."
An unfortunate issue with his sight hindered his writing and other interests during his later years. Mr. Wolfe passed away on August 6, 1969. Funeral services were held Saturday, August 9th, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Milford with interment in Milford Cemetery.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, O. Howard Wolfe was involved with the following bank:
- Philadelphia National Bank, Philadelphia, PA (Charter 539): Cashier 1919-1935
Sources
- O. Howard Wolfe on Findagrave.com.
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://bbdata.banknotehistory.com
- Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA, Mon., Sep. 30, 1918.
- Pike County Dispatch, Milford, PA, Thu., Aug. 14, 1969.