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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (159735)	2/4/2009 7:16:55 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 362787

BofA a long way from its roots... Amadeo Pietro Giannini (1870 – 1949), born in San Jose, California, was Italian American and founder of Bank of America. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Legacy 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links [edit] Biography Giannini's parents were Italian, from Liguria, near Genoa, immigrants to the United States. He attended Heald College, in San Francisco, California. His first occupation was as a commission merchant and produce dealer for farms in the Santa Clara Valley. In that position he found established banks unwilling to take on his or the farmers business. Giannini opened the Bank of Italy in a former San Francisco saloon on 17 October, 1904. Deposits on that first day totaled $8,780.[1] An early difficulty to overcome was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. However, the earthquake actually helped Giannini gain something of a loan monopoly. After the earthquake, he moved the vault's money to his home outside the fire zone in then-rural San Mateo, an 18-mile drive by horse and wagon. The raging fires severely heated the vaults of other big banks which had the money in them. Opening them immediately would ruin the money, so they had to be kept closed for weeks. Because of this, Giannini was one of the few who was able to provide loans at the time. Giannini was forced to run his bank from a plank across two barrels in the street for a time. Giannini made loans on a handshake to anyone who was interested in rebuilding. Years later, he would recount with pride that every single loan was repaid.[citation needed] en.wikipedia.org