BANKING : 4 Founding Directors at Monarch Bank Retire, Sell Off Stock

With an average age of 80, four directors who helped create Monarch Bank in 1980 have called it quits, retiring from the boards of the Laguna Niguel bank and its holding company.

Thomas L. Lowe, 83, Everett L. Mangam, 79, William W. McKinley, 73, and Robert S. Warner, 85, resigned two weeks ago from their posts at the bank and at Monarch Bancorp, the holding company. All four also sold their stock in private transactions to about 20 people, all but two of them current shareholders.

The retired directors will become directors-emeritus, said William Demmin, the bank’s chief financial officer. Demmin said the four had wanted to get their estates in order, which necessitated the sale of their stock.

The remaining seven directors may appoint four new directors at their meeting later this month. Any appointees would have to be approved by shareholders who attend the annual meeting, now scheduled for late June.