S.D. Mourns the Probable Loss of Great American : Banking: Civic leaders say they hope Wells Fargo will prove as community-oriented, but add that the troubled thrift’s shoes will be hard to fill.

For 20 years, Gordon Luce, the former chief executive of San Diego’s Great American Bank, nurtured the thrift and transformed what was once a tiny, four-branch local operation into a 211-office giant with assets of $15.4 billion. In the process, the company grew into one of San Diego’s few large home-grown corporations.

But, with its demise in California--and the possibility that what’s left will be headquartered elsewhere--a nagging question is again being asked.

Is San Diego, the state’s second-largest city and the country’s sixth-largest, to be relegated to little more than Branch Diego, as yet another locally based corporation changes ownership to outsiders and dulls the city’s major league business and civic image.

In the past year, eight of San Diego County’s 15 largest publicly held businesses, have either left town, been taken over or faced the threat of acquisition. With that in mind, San Diego city leaders Tuesday mourned the probable loss of another locally based company, one with a long record of civic involvement.

“It’s a major concern to the mayor that Great American is another headquarters company that San Diego is losing (to Wells Fargo), but we’re still fighting to keep large organizations in town,” said Paul Downey, spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, referring to the city’s battle to prevent the proposed merger of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

“In this case, we’re taking solace in the fact that Wells Fargo has a good reputation of getting involved in the community,” Downey said. “The mayor realizes that we won’t be able to totally replace Great American, but we hope Wells Fargo will step into the hole that’s been left and make contributions to the various civic and charitable organizations that Great American was known for supporting.”

City officials weren’t the only ones worrying Tuesday. A Great American executive interviewed shortly after the sale announcement said many employees fear they might lose their jobs.

“People are upset. . . . Some of the people are hit because they didn’t know about it at the lower levels. . . . They were kept in the dark,” said the disgruntled mid-level manager who asked not to be identified. “People are seeing a lot of work, a lot of careers go down the drain.”

In contrast, several Great American customers, aware that their accounts are protected by federal deposit insurance, said they were unconcerned about the sale, and in some cases knew little about the thrift’s troubles.

“I don’t care if it’s sold to Donald Duck Bank, as long as the funds are safe,” said Xotchil Adamson, a Great American depositor.

Throughout its history, Great American has been one of San Diego’s most generous corporate citizens, annually contributing nearly $1 million to a wide range of social and civic programs.

The bank’s list of local beneficiaries includes the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, the Urban League, the Greater San Diego Sports Assn. and numerous cultural organizations, as typified by last year’s $50,000 donation to the Soviet Arts Festival.

In the late 1980s, Great American sponsored a much-heralded education program aimed at increasing attendance among junior high school students--”Miss School, Miss Out”--that was honored at a White House ceremony as one of the nation’s best private-sector projects.

“If Wells Fargo is successful in its acquisition, I think they will be a good corporate citizen, but they won’t be as good as Great American,” said Robert Adelizzi, president and chief executive officer of HomeFed Bank, one of the few remaining large San Diego-based companies. “It will be difficult for them, because they’re not a home-grown company.”

But Adelizzi doesn’t expect Great American’s downfall to tarnish San Diego’s image nationwide.

“San Diego has a wonderful national reputation for several reasons, but unfortunately it doesn’t have a number of major corporations headquartered here,” Adelizzi said. “Great American was one of the largest, and its loss will be significant, but the impact will be felt more on the local scene than on the national level.”

Local organizations, however, are hoping that impact will be softened with Wells Fargo’s help. Sue Pondrom, a Scripps Clinic spokeswoman, said she has already seen an example of Wells Fargo’s generosity.

During the past 25 years, the La Jolla-based health care and biomedical research institute, which is involved in a variety of medical studies, including cancer and diabetes treatment, has received nearly $200,000 from Great American. But Pondrom said Wells Fargo has also contributed $18,000 to Scripps since 1971.

San Diego arts community officials also expressed hope that Wells Fargo will fill Great American’s shoes but said such a task will be a difficult one.

“Great American has been, if not the foremost, one of the leaders of the San Diego cultural community,” said Steven Brezzo director of the San Diego Museum of Art. “If they were to leave, the ramifications could be great.

“They have been a partner with us in so many projects, exhibitions, film programs, capital building campaigns,” Brezzo said, noting that Great American has given as much as $100,000 for individual museum projects.

“It’s not only the money, but it’s the spirit. . . . Great American had a tremendous spirit of partnership,” Brezzo said. “They believed in the arts, not only as a promotional vehicle but as a way to better the community. They will be sorely missed.”

Times staff writer Dan Parks contributed to this story.