Edward Carson dies at 80; former head of First Interstate Bancorp

Edward Carson, the sure-handed chairman of First Interstate Bancorp who rescued the faltering Los Angeles-based company in the early 1990s with a back-to-basics strategy, has died. He was 80.

Carson, who was also a philanthropist, died March 12 at his Beverly Hills home of a collapsed lung, said his son, Tod.

During an era of mergers and acquisitions, Carson preserved First Interstate’s independence while transforming it into one of the nation’s more successful banking companies.

“He was a lifelong banker, so he loved the business and knew it well,” said Bill Siart, who followed Carson as chairman of First Interstate. “He focused on getting people to do their best, and he was a guy of high integrity and honesty. . . . That’s why he was successful.”

When Carson retired in 1995 after five years at the helm, First Interstate was the only major bank still headquartered in Los Angeles. The next year it was acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. for $11.6 billion.

In a 1993 New York Times article, financial analyst Raphael Soifer compared Carson to actor Jimmy Stewart “in personality and the roles he plays. He has restored a sense of calm and order . . . even as he presided over substantial cost cutting and restructuring.”

Carson eliminated more than a quarter of First Interstate’s 35,000 jobs and ordered bank officers to take a demanding test on how to avoid making bad loans. The one-third who failed it left the bank or were reassigned. Of the exam, Carson once said: “I was too scared to take it.”

An Arizona native who had polio as a boy, Carson was known for posting such aphorisms as “Keep it simple” and “Care about your customer.” Company headquarters were downtown in the tallest skyscraper in Los Angeles, now known as the US Bank Tower.

“Our business is a man, a wife, two kids and a station wagon,” Carson said in the 1993 interview.

The son of a truck driver, Edward Mansfield Carson was born Nov. 6, 1929, in Tucson and grew up in Peoria, Ariz.

At Arizona State University, he was the student body president raising money to build a student union building when he hit up an executive of what became First Interstate Bank of Arizona. Carson nabbed a donation -- and a job offer.

After studying marketing and advertising, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and joined the bank as a teller. It was the start of his 44-year career with the company.

Carson earned a master’s in banking from Rutgers University in 1963 and a decade later was named chief operating officer and director of the Arizona bank. In 1977, he rose to president and chief executive officer.

When he became president of First Interstate Bancorp in 1985, he moved to Beverly Hills with his wife, Nadine, whom he had met at Arizona State.

The couple were major supporters of the Music Center, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, where a small outdoor amphitheater is named for them. They also prominently contributed to Arizona State, where the Nadine and Ed Carson Student-Athlete Center opened in 2002.

In Arizona, Carson built a summer cabin, doing most of the work himself.

“He was a very compassionate father,” his son said. “In spite of his busy schedule, he never missed anything, including Boy Scout camping trips.”

Nadine Carson, his wife of 54 years, died of cancer at 76 in 2007.

In addition to his son, Carson is survived by his daughter, Dawn Senger; two grandchildren; and his sisters, Earline Aguayo and Lucille Allen.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at the California Club, 538 S. Flower St., Los Angeles.

valerie.nelson@latimes.com