Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK DURING THE WAR 337"The directors of The Canadian Bank of Commercedesire to express to the family of their late colleague,Alexander Laird, the deepest sympathy in the great losswhich they are called upon to bear.Mr. Laird entered the service of the bank in 1876,and after serving in such important positions as inspectorand agent at New York, he became assistant generalmanager in 1903 and general manager in 1907. When,because of failing health, he retired from the staff in 1915,he had served the bank for nearly forty years.As a banker, and especially in the difficult intricaciesof foreign exchange, he had an international reputation,while his judgment was sought by many people in everywalk of life. His warm heart and kindly interest in theirwelfare, accompanied by a high sense of duty, made himat once the beloved friend and respected monitor of hisstaff. The same high qualities of heart and mind wonand retained for him the esteem of his fellow bankers and,indeed, of all those who came into daily contact with him.His loss is an irreparable one to the whole communityand the directors desire by this resolution to testify totheir profound sorrow at his early death."In the following January, a day or two before the annualmeeting of the bank, another of the directors, Mr. GardnerStevens, passed away. Mr. Stevens had been vice-presidentof the Eastern Townships Bank when the amalgamation ofthat bank took place, and joined the Board of The CanadianBank of Commerce at that time. Mr. Laird's place at theBoard was taken by Mr. H. C. Cox, 1son of the late SenatorCox. Mr. Stevens' place was not filled, the number of directorsbeing reduced at the annual meeting of 1916 to nineteen.Herbert Coplin Cox (b. 1873), youngest son of the late Senator George A. Cox,formerly president of The Canadian Bank of Commerce, is a native of Peterboro,Ont. He is president and general manager of the Canada Life Assurance Company,vice-president of the Central Canada Loan and Savings Company, Toronto, anddirector of the National Trust Company, Limited, and the Canadian GeneralElectric Company, besides holding similar offices in many other financial, insuranceand commercial corporations.