The Rand Family

George Franklin Rand, the third and youngest son of Calvin and Almira, equaled his brothers’ successes. He was born at Forest Home on August 14, 1867.

He attended a country school and Brockport Normal School, and his banking career began when he was 16 years old when he became assistant cashier of the State Bank of North Tonawanda. His aptitude for finance and administration was obvious when, in the year that he attained his majority, he established a private bank! The next step in his upward career was his election to the presidency of the First National Bank of Tonawanda, with which he was identified for ten years, resigning to accept the vice presidency of the Columbia National Bank. He became a dominant figure in the banking fraternity of Buffalo. After a period as president of the Central National Bank, he was elected vice president and then president of the Marine National Bank of Buffalo.

George F. Rand was married on September 12, 1888, to Vina S. Fisher, in Tonawanda, New York. Vina. Rand died January 25, 1919. Their children were: George F., Jr., Calvin, Evelyn; and Gretchen.

A few months before his own death George Rand was the principal instrument in the merger of the Bankers Trust Company of Buffalo, the Erie Finance Corporation, and the Marine National Bank into one great institution, the Marine Trust Company, which became one of the strongest financial institutions in the United States. This was the crowning achievement of a career before which stretched vast possibilities, promises that were indeed deemed probabilities by those in position to appreciate best the powerful mental grasp and capacity for executive leadership with which he was endowed.

George Rand was a man of broad mind and keen business sense. He possessed what properly could be termed business statesmanship, in the sense that he viewed business from the standpoint of broad economy, an agency affecting large numbers of people. A financier in the fullest meaning of the term, he was not in business simply to make a fortune for himself, realizing at the same time, as many successful business men do not, “that the most permanent fortune is that one which is grounded upon a reputation for entertaining the interest of all men in all avenues of resource and progress.”

George Rand was a very successful banker, not only making a large fortune for himself, but was instrumental in bringing prosperity to a great many other citizens of the Niagara Frontier, being an excellent type of the class of men whose strength of business ability and character was the natural magnet of success, profiting all who came within its compelling force. It has been said of George. Rand by one of his associates that he never wanted anything that touched his bank or himself to be second best, and this desire he caused to be extended into every department of the work of the institution of which he was the head, taking just pride in the high standards that were observed in all of its transactions. He was a stalwart fighter, but a fair competitor, and had that rare combination of vision and practical ability that, had he lived, would undoubtedly have placed him in the small group of financiers whose names stand preeminently in American banking.

From 1901 until his death in 1919, he was Chief Executive Officer of the Columbia National Bank, Central National Bank, Bankers Trust Company of Buffalo, Marine National Bank, the predecessor of Marine Trust Company. By a series of mergers and consolidations, George Rand effected the formation of the Marine Trust Co. of Western New York. This combination of many banks on the Niagara Frontier led to Marine Trust banks in many areas of the state. The North Tonawanda State Bank later became the State Trust office of Marine Trust Bank, which developed into Marine Midland Bank and was later in the latter 20 th century taken over by HSBC Bank. His son, George Rand, Jr., continued in his father’s footsteps and became president of Marine Trust.

“The life story of George F. Rand,” said a contemporary biographer, “is one commanding general attention aside from the deeply-appealing and heart-stirring incidents of his closing hours, for even in the common-place relations of life he had worked out a career remarkably interesting, and in its crises had shown a richness of spirit and staunchness of character that gave him firmest hold upon the affectionate esteem and respect of his fellowmen.”

George Rand gave himself freely to many public and charitable enterprises. He was a broad-spirited citizen, always ready with a generous response to patriotic and civic calls. Both personally, and through his bank, he entered with patriotic zeal upon the duties imposed by the World War upon every American citizen. The Marine Trust Company purchased for itself and its customers eighty-eight million dollars worth of Liberty bonds and seventy-five million dollars worth of other government securities. During the campaign of the Red Cross for funds, George Rand set a standard for the banking world of Buffalo which was never surpassed, and at the outbreak of the war he telegraphed President Wilson an offer to equip an entire regiment at his own expense.

Superlative as was his genius for finance, his wealth of human affection, deep feeling and devotion to home and family were equally great. He was earnestly religious and took active part in the devotional life of the church. He was intensely loyal to his friends, whom he attracted most by admiration for his powers of leadership and in response to his genial nature and warm generosity.

No more significant tribute could be paid to George. Rand’s memory than one coming from his most intimate business associates as evidenced by a tablet, on the wall in the lobby of the beautiful new Rand building, reading as follows: “The directors of the Marine Trust Company of Buffalo, dedicate this building as a memorial to the late George F. Rand in appreciation of his worth as a citizen and the outstanding services rendered by him to the Marine Trust Company of Buffalo and its predecessors, the Marine National Bank, Bankers Trust Company of Buffalo, Central National Bank and Columbia National Bank as chief executive during the period from 1901 until his death in 1919.”

In 1919 George Rand made a journey to Europe, and in the course of his stay abroad visited the battlefield of Verdun. A glimpse of tragic history is necessary here to hold the continuity of the story. On June 11, 1916, a section of the 137 th Regiment of the French Infantry, composed of Bretons and Vendeens, having received orders to attack, were standing in their trenches with bayonets fixed, awaiting the signal. A sudden and terrific bombardment by German guns of the heaviest caliber opened up at this moment, and the trenches where these men stood were caved in and filled up until level with the surrounding ground. When the bombardment ended and relief arrived, the trenches were no longer visible, but emerging from the earth at irregular intervals were the bayonets of the rifles which these brave men held. Under each there stood a dead soldier.

Three years went by; the armistice had come; the Peace Conference was in session at Paris. During all this time these bayonets pierced the snows of winter and rusted in the summer rains. The bodies of the gallant men beneath were mixing with the earth of that France for whom they had given their lives. To the occasional visitors who at this time came to the battlefield of Verdun, this sight was pointed out as one of the strange and tragic incidents of the terrific battle which had so long been waged on these hills.

George. Rand, visiting this scene in 1919, was profoundly impressed by the significance of the story it silently told, and during a visit to American ambassador to France Wallace, they discussed the trench and its story, agreeing that it should be protected from ravages of time and left intact for future generations as a perpetual symbol of the heroism of the French defenses of Verdun.

George Rand at once offered to place half a million francs at the disposal of the ambassador for this purpose, and Wallace, without a moment’s hesitation, went with Rand to see the French Prime Minister, M. Georges Clemenceau, who, with equal promptness and in the name of the French government, accepted the offer. The next morning George Rand started for London in an airplane which met with an accident en route, and he was instantly killed.

Learning of what had been almost the last act of their father’s life, Rand ’s children informed the ambassador that they desired to renew the offer made by their father, and the plans for the erection of a monument were immediately undertaken by a committee selected for the purpose by Wallace and the French government.

The work of preparing the design was confided to M. Andre-Ventre, chief architect of the government service charged with the historical monuments of France. The plans having been approved by the committee, were successfully completed, and on December, 8 1920, the solemn inauguration of the monument took place.

George F. Rand, Jr., Evelyn and Gretchen Rand, and Mr. and Mrs. James Rand came from America to be present at the ceremony. The party was taken to Verdun in the presidential train, to which was also attached to the car in which Marshal Foch had signed the armistice on November 11, 1918. At Verdun they were met by a group of civil and military dignitaries. The ceremony at the cemetery was extremely moving in its simplicity. President Miller approached and laid a palm before the great cross in the center of the cemetery and remained an instant in silent meditation.

The ambassador of the United States also placed a palm on which bore the inscription: “To the heroes of France, from the Ambassador of the United States.” A profound silence reigned over the sacred burial places while the representatives of France and the United States did homage to those who fell in the Great War. The rolling muffled drums added to the emotion which filled all hearts. The president of the republic then passed along the paths of the cemetery, reading the names inscribed on the crosses, thus paying honor to each of the soldiers who had died for France.

The procession then reformed and started for the monument of the Bayonet Trench. Here the ceremony of dedication took place, the ambassador of the United States being the first to speak, followed by the president of the French republic, the playing of the national anthems of America and of France concluding the services.

The inscription over the entrance on the Thiaumont road tells in whose name this memorial was reared in a spirit of reverence, modesty, and self-forgetfulness seldom equaled:

To the Memory of the French Soldiers who Sleep, Standing Rifle in Hand, in this Trench.