Kenneth Allen Bourne Jr., a retired Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co. executive who mixed his business with humor, died of heart failure Sept. 24 at Blakehurst Senior Living in Towson. He was 83.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Homeland, he was the son of Kenneth Allen Bourne Sr. and Mary Florence Kolb. A 1960 graduate of Gilman School, where he later served as a trustee, he earned a degree from Princeton University.
While a student there, he met his future wife, Deborah Bell. They married in 1968.
Mr. Bourne joined Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co. and its holding company, Mercantile Bankshares, in 1970. He served as senior credit officer, chief financial officer and executive vice president of what was once regarded as the most powerful financial institution in Baltimore.
After Mercantile was sold to PNC Bank, he headed the new bank’s metropolitan Baltimore division until his 2009 retirement.
He served as director of Tissue Banks International, Midtown Development Corp. and Charlestown Retirement Community. He was the past chair of Jubilee Baltimore, a nonprofit that rebuilds neighborhoods.
Charles Duff, former Jubilee Baltimore president, said, “Ken was a rock-ribbed Republican but he loved Baltimore. He was also the funniest human being I have ever known. He used that humor to bring people together, rather than alienate them.”
“He had an unbelievable memory and could recall facts, figures and jokes. He was smart as a whip and could put sugar on a bitter pill,” Duff said.
Friends said Mr. Bourne kept a stack of cards with dozens of jokes and stories ready.
“Ken Bourne was a remarkable humorist and had a generosity of spirit which delighted all who knew him,” said Stanley Heuisler, a Gilman classmate and friend. “This extended through all his business relationships in banking and his work in the community for organizations about which he deeply cared.”
“Behind Ken’s jokes was a total command of the customer’s financials,” said Jay M. Wilson, former Mercantile Bankshares vice president. “He had the ability to analyze and evaluate our business customers. He was the epitome of Mercantile’s success.”
His daughter, Alison La Fiura, said, “My father could light up a room. I was in awe of his ability to speak to anyone. He would know a waitress’s life story before we finished dinner in a restaurant.”
Frank K. Turner Jr., a retired banker and colleague, said, “Ken knew everybody in Baltimore and all liked and respected him. And he laughed at his own jokes as much as you did. He was intelligent, insightful, hardworking and very generous with his time.”
He also served as a Walters Art Museum and Kennedy Krieger Institute trustee.
Mr. Bourne was a member of the Maryland Club. He played golf at the Elkridge Club and fished at Harbour Ridge in Florida. He and his wife often visited Baltimore’s Tio Pepe and restaurants in Little Italy.
A celebration of life will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Elkridge Club, 6100 N. Charles St.
Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Deborah Bell Bourne, a retired Calvert School teacher; a son, Edward Bennett “Ned” Bourne, of Baltimore; two daughters, Alison La Fiura, of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, and Courtney Fox, of Monkton; a sister, Caroline Davies of Ruxton; and six grandchildren.
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