Sunday, February 25, 2001
P.M. Gillmor does business with a handshake
By Jefferson Wolfe
Staff Writer
A nonagenarian is a person who is in his 90s. On his birthday Monday, P.M. Gillmor - still the chairman of the board of Old Fort Bank - will join that group.
Gillmor, a lifelong Seneca County resident, has contributed to the county through his trucking business, his leadership of the Old Fort Bank, and many other community projects.
P.M. Gillmor was born and raised in Old Fort and started in the trucking business in 1931. Initially, he had one truck, which he bought for $250, and a trailer he rented for $60 for three months. So began Paul M. Gillmor Trucking.
By 1958, when he sold out to Matlack Trucking, he had a fleet of 150 trucks. Gillmor and his late wife, Lucy, who passed away 11 years ago, ran the business.
Gillmor continued to work for Matlack for 27 years. He wound up a vice president, until he returned home in about 1980 to take care of his wife after an illness.
Although P.M. had been on the board of directors of Old Fort Bank since 1941, it was in 1980 when he started getting more active in the bank, which had been owned by his father-in-law.
When Gillmor took over, the bank had $10 million in total assets.
"Under his leadership, the bank now has total assets of $237 million," said Mike Kerschner, the current president and CEO of Old Fort Bank. "He's been the common link."
When Gillmor took over, the bank had two locations: Old Fort and Bettsville. Now there are seven. Two were added in Tiffin, one each in Fostoria, Green Springs and Fremont.
"We kind of covered the area around pretty well, I think," Gillmor said.
He said his success has come from liking people and knowing how to work with them.
"Business with a handshake - I think P.M. has taken that to a new level," Kerschner said.
Gillmor said he has always tried to be a good citizen and ensure the bank was a good corporate citizen.
"It's kind of like a mirror image of the man who runs the organization - in this case, it's Mr. Gillmor," Kerschner said.
"We had a lot of good people working in it," Gillmor said. "I like the little town of Old Fort. I don't like big cities. We wouldn't have expanded like we did if we didn't have faith in Tiffin and Seneca County and Sandusky County."
The bank has been a catalyst for new growth and has been the largest lender of small business loans in the area for a number of years, Kerschner said.
For example, Gillmor donated money to Tiffin University in his family's name, and the Gillmor center bears the name.
Other projects include The Ritz Theatre, Mercy Hospital of Tiffin's expansion, Heidelberg College, the United Way and the Frost-Kalnow Stadium.
The new bridge spanning the Sandusky River in Old Fort was named for Gillmor as well.
Currently, Gillmor is the chairman of the bank's board of directors, and attends committee meetings once or twice a week.
"Mr. Gillmor is not in the day-to-day operation but he certainly is guiding the ship," Kerschner said.
Gillmor became active in the Republican Party when his son Paul E. Gillmor, who is currently a U.S. representative from the 5th District, decided to run for a seat in the Ohio Senate.
Initially, Paul came home on leave from the Air Force, in which he was an attorney, and suggested P.M. should run for office.
"He said, 'If you get elected and get tired of it, then I'll run,' " P.M. said. P.M. never ran for office, but Paul did. Instead P.M. ran the campaign in 1965 in which Paul was elected.
"We kind of did the groundwork," P.M. said. "He was the youngest to be elected in the Senate that that time."
Gillmor also has a daughter, Dianne Kumsee.
Since then, he remained active in the party, working for Paul's re-election.
He has been involved with the Boy Scouts. He donated land to Old Fort Schools for an athletic field. He also has served on the Old Fort School Board, the Ohio Contract Carriers, the Old Fort Mutual Telephone Co. and the Old Fort Volunteer Fire Department.
He is a founding member of the Old Fort Lions Club, and has perfect attendance for 55 years.
"The longer you go, the more you want to continue," Gillmor said.