Recognizing the widespread impact, longtime contributions and influence of the late real estate developer J. Philip Kesecker, the Board of Directors of CNB Bank made an official resolution in Kesecker’s honor and presented it to members of his family at their most recent board meeting.
Charles Trump IV, board president and colleague of Kesecker, told his daughter Nancy Pearse and her husband Mike that the bank board had thought it proper to honor the very long service of her father to the local bank, now celebrating its 90th year in business.
A copy of the resolution outlining Kesecker’s business accomplishments, community contributions and bank service will hang in CNB’s main branch in Berkeley Springs, said Trump. Copies were also framed and given to the Pearse’s three children.
Kesecker began selling local real estate in 1956 and later opened his own insurance and real estate office. He established some of the county’s earliest residential developments and served on many professional and civic boards as his own career advanced.
Citizens National Bank voted Kesecker onto the Board of Directors in 1965. He served in a director’s capacity and was then elected the chairman of the bank board in 1987.
“J. Philip Kesecker served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank during a transformational period, which saw the expansion of the Main Office Corporate Headquarters and the first Automated Teller Machine in 1987, the first branch office to open on Valley Road in 1991, the creation of the Trust Department in 1994, the formation of CNB Financial Services, Inc. as the financial services holding company for the bank in 2000, the first Maryland branch office in Hancock to open in 2004, and the transition from a national to a state-chartered bank and resulting name change from Citizens National Bank to CNB Bank, Inc. in 2006,” the resolution noted.
Phil Kesecker served as chairman of the bank board through 2008, continued as a board member until 2014 and was then bestowed the honor of Director Emeritus.
Throughout his career in finance and real estate, Kesecker became instrumental in many civic endeavors, from the Berkeley Springs Lions Club and Morgan County Planning Commission to the development of Camp Harmison, local fraternal lodges and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Kesecker had lived the last several years of his life at Westminster Canterbury in Winchester and passed away on April 23 of this year at the age of 94.
Nancy Pearse thanked the bank board for keeping her father involved in bank happenings, even in his retirement, saying its operations and success were very important to him.
