Merger of Two Big Banks

In all of the interesting stories in The Times that appeared on the bank merger, the identity of the pioneer banker who founded Farmers and Merchants Bank, which ultimately became Security Pacific Bank, should not be forgotten. He was Isaias W. Hellman, who arrived in Los Angeles from Bavaria in 1859 and went to work in his cousin’s dry goods store. In a few years, he had his own clothing store, using the profits to expand his business, to buy land and offering his safe for the use of area businessmen.

Hellman founded a bank with Francis Temple and William Workman and later founded Farmers and Merchants Bank in Los Angeles, which in 1956 was acquired by Security Pacific Bank.

Hellman also was a partner in Henry Huntington’s Pacific Electric Railway and donated land for construction of the University of Southern California. He moved to San Francisco in 1891 but maintained family and financial ties in Los Angeles.

ELINOR LYNCH, San Marino