Bob Samuels - Biography
Bob Samules was born on August 14, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mother Lorraine Bizzell-Blue is still an important influence in my life but sadly; Father Hubert Samuels, passed away in 1995. Bob attended St. Elizabeth's Elementary School, Roman Catholic High School and graduated from Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia. In July 1956, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served four years before being Honorably Discharged in 1960.
In 1962 he began his career in finance at Household Finance Company in Philadelphia, and, in 1964, joined First Pennsylvania Bank and became their first black loan officer. After a successful career at First Pennsylvania Bank, he moved to commercial lending and in 1969 joined Manufacturer's Hanovers Commercial Loan training program in New York City.
Bob Samuels married Rosalind Nottingham in 1962 and from that union, Robert Jr. was born.
Robert J. Samuels retired in 1992 as Vice President of the Global Financial Institutions Group, a division of Manufactures Hanover's Corporate Banking and International Sector (JPMorgan Chase). Born in Philadelphia, he attended the American Institute of Banking, New York Institute of Credit, and is a graduate of Rutgers University's Stonier Graduate School of Banking.
He began his banking career in 1964 at First Pennsylvania Bank and in 1969 he moved to New York City and joined Manufacturers Hanover Bank's Commercial Lending Training Program. He was promoted to Vice President in 1975.
Mr. Samuels is listed in "Who's Who in Black America" and has been a community activist throughout his life. He was one of the founders of the Harlem YMCA's Black Achievers in Industry Program and he established the United Negro College Fund's Corporate Matching Gifts Program. As a result of his work with the United Negro College Fund, he was awarded the "UNCF's Outstanding Citizen's Award."
For more than twenty years Mr. Samuels served as a visiting professor for the National Urban League's Black Executive Exchange Program and lectured at colleges around the country. In 1986, New York Governor Cuomo appointed him to serve on the Board of Trustees of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.
Mr. Samuels was the founding president of both the National Association of Urban Bankers and the New York City Urban Bankers Coalition. In 1984, the National Association of Urban Bankers honored him by renaming the "Outstanding Banker of the Year Award" to the "Robert J. Samuels Founder's Award".
In 1998 the Urban Bankers further honored him by having his likeness placed in the Baltimore Great Blacks in Wax Museum. In December of that year he was also inducted into the Black Hall of Fame in Philadelphia.
