Nesbitt, Co-founder, Ford Sandusky Employees FCU, Dies

SANDUSKY, Ohio – Joe Nesbitt, a co-founder of Ford Sandusky Employees FCU – now called Erie Community FCU – died Aug. 20 of leukemia. He was 81. Nesbitt served more than 20 years on the board of the credit union from 1969-1978 and from 1988-1999. He was board president from 1969-1972. Nesbitt co-founded Ford Motor CU in the last 1950s to help fellow employees at the Ford plant in Sandusky with loans for car and home purchases. A few years after it was chartered in 1958, the credit union broke the million-dollar mark. It changed its name to Reserve FCU in 1960. The credit union got its community charter in April 2001, becoming Erie County’s first federal credit union, and changed its name again in May 2001 to Erie Community FCU. The credit union currently has more than 3,500 members and about $18.9 million in assets. Nesbitt is survived by his daughter, son, five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.