Stan Hollen will always remember Bob Siravo as a man who made a difference in the credit union industry and who epitomized its motto of people helping people.
Hollen, the retired president/CEO of the CO-OP Financial Services and a longtime close friend of Siravo, said he received a call Wednesday morning that Siravo, 73, passed away peacefully in sleep after going to bed Tuesday night.
"His son, Bobby, called me, let me know what happened and asked if I would spread the word to his friends and others in the industry," Hollen said. "We spoke this morning (Thursday) to his wife, Trish. It was absolutely unexpected. He went to sleep and never woke up."
Siravo, who was a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, held various executive credit union positions over three decades, including CEO of the failed Western Corporate Federal Credit Union formerly located in San Dimas, Calif.
According to the NCUA, WesCorp generated far more losses than those that were made at other failed corporates. At the end of 2012, WesCorp's estimated losses were $5.73 billion, representing 84.4% of the nearly $6.8 billion in total estimated legacy asset losses.
The NCUA sued Siravo and the other WesCorp executives.
In 2012, the NCUA issued a prohibition order against former WesCorp CEO Robert Siravo as part of an agreement between him and the agency to settle the regulator's claims against the former CEO arising from the failure of the corporate credit union.
Siravo in the deal also agreed to pay $600,000 to the liquidating agent of WesCorp. He did not admit liability or fault. However, in the pact, he consented to the prohibition order which barred him from participating in the affairs of any federally insured credit union.
It is fair to say, Hollen said, that Siravo was somewhat hurt by the NCUA ban as anyone would be in that situation.
Although Siravo did not attend credit union events after the ban, he stayed in touch with his credit union friends and attended Hollen's beach party retirement celebration in May.
"I think they went overboard by going after the officers there, but at the same time, they went after the big banks and securities firms that sold those (mortgage) securities and misled investors like WesCorp," Hollen said. "NCUA has been successful in getting major settlements out of those firms. There can't be two wrongs. The main problem was with the securities firms that sold those securities and were less than honest. WesCorp had very good people."
In 1987, when Hollen was president/CEO of the $10 billion Golden 1 Credit Union, he first met Siravo. He ran the Sacramento-based credit union's investment CUSO.
Siravo then left Golden 1 to run credit unions in Las Vegas, San Jose, and eventually became the president/CEO of the $2.5 billion Travis Credit Union in Vacaville, Calif., Hollen said.
"He was a wonderful person, a great friend," Hollen said. "Everyone liked Bob. He was so affable with a great personality and he made friends everywhere. He was a good role model, a good father and husband. He never said a negative word about folks and was liked by virtually everybody he met. He made a great many friends over the years. He just had integrity and class. He worked hard to get to where he was."
Siravo lived the credit union mantra of people helping people.
"It was Bob Siravo who put in a good word for me with Stan Hollen and got me the job at CO-OP Financial Services," Caroline Willard said, who is CO-OP's executive vice president, marketing and strategy. "I have been at CO-OP for 10 years now, and I thanked Bob for this when I saw him at Stan's retirement party in May. He had no idea what a huge impact he had on so many people's lives."
Todd Lane, president/CEO of the $2 billion California Coast Credit Union in San Diego, said Siravo radiated a warm, caring and fun personality that gave him a unique ability to instantly connect on a personal level with everyone.
"Bob was a true leader and constant student of leadership," Lane said. "He believed that leadership development was critical to success and he encouraged, supported and invested so much in so many to become their very best. We will miss Bob greatly, but will remember his laugh, smile and love of life."
Hollen said memorial services for Siravo will be held July 13 at the Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento.
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