Iowa banking giant and political leader John Chrystal dies

Northwestern Financial Review, Feb 5, 2000 by Olmsted, Monte

John Chrystal wanted to make the world a better place. As a country banker in Iowa, he helped farmers achieve dreams by providing the money to grow their com and hog operations. As an international agriculture expert, Chrystal lent advice in areas such as crop-growing methods and trade relations during his sojourns to the former Soviet Union and Russia.

His sage, common sense advice was adhered to by a number of people ranging from the small farmer from his native Coon Rapids, Iowa, to former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, and former U.S. senator, Bill Bradley, a current presidential candidate. All of these people are among those who will miss Chrystal, who died on Jan. 19 in Des Moines. He was 74.

"He was an extremely trustworthy person, who felt personal integrity was the most important asset you owned," said Chrystal's friend and Iowa banking colleague, 0. Jay Tomson, chairman of First Citizens National Bank in Mason City. "If you didn't have integrity, you didn't have anything. That was a hallmark for him."

At the time of his death, Chrystal was the chairman of Carroll-based Iowa Savings Bank in east-central Iowa. His illustrious banking career began there in 1959 when the charter was located in Coon Rapids. Af ter 10 years as a grain and cattle farmer, Chrystal eased into his career change at the bank operated by his mother's family.

He served as president of the Iowa Savings Bank from 1960 to 1984. During his stint, Chrystal also served as Iowa's superintendent of banking from 1963 to 1969. He left the Coon Rapids bank in 1984 and joined Des Moines-based Bankers Trust Co. as president and later chairman and CEO, staying with that institution until 1989. Chrystal's banking influence was felt beyond his hometown as he became a visionary for Johnston-based SHAZAM Inc., Iowa's central routing unit for ATMs.

A die-hard liberal and devout Democrat , Chrystal was active in organizations including Planned Parenthood, Farm Aid, Business People for Peace, and a Des Moines rehab center for female drug addicts.

His dedication to liberal causes was more successful than his personal political career as Chrystal unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1990. But, his commitment to the Democrat party remained true up until his death, serving as Iowa's campaign chairman for presidential candidate Bill Bradley. A socially conscious liberal, yet fiscally conservative, Chrystal had to balance his dedication to humanism with his no-nonsense banker's acumen.

"One of the ironies of his career was that while he was president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union (in 1973), he was president of the Iowa Bankers Association," said friend and Iowa banking colleague Bill Hess, president of Iowa Savings Bank.

Hess and Tomson were among the 350 people attending a memorial service for Chrystal on Jan. 23 in Coon Rapids. The hourlong event included speeches by state, national and international dignitaries including Russian government official Victor Lishchenko, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and Bill Bradley. Chrystal campaigned with the latter three and was instrumental in getting Vilsack and Harkin elected.

According to Hess, the memorial service was an affair that Chrystal would have frowned upon because he didn't like attention. "He would. have liked the politicians being there if they were campaigning, but he wouldn't have cared for this other stuff," Hess said.

The hard-working Chrystal enjoyed helping others, but had little time for himself. The lifelong bachelor who usually wore bow ties lived frugally, and when time allowed, was a voracious reader who tended to his precious flower garden in Coon Rapids. "He was probably too busy serving others to attend to his personal life," Hess said.

Among those Chrystal served were the people of Russia.

The Iowa banker's link with the former Soviet Union dated back to 1959, when then-Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev visited a Coon Rapids farm operated by Chrystal's uncle, Roswell Garst. The brother of Chrystal's mother, Garst was a pioneer in hybrid seed corn and started the Garst Seed Co. in 1930. During the Eisenhower era, Garst had invited Khrushchev to Iowa to show off his farm.

According to Hess, Chrystal became his uncle's "early lieutenant" and accompanied him to the Soviet Union to better understand the country and its people who sustained devastating human losses during World War IL Chrystal, a U.S. Navy veteran, felt compassion for the Russians, and subscribed to the philosophy that people should get along as he tried to end the Cold War. "His Uncle Roswell said, 'A man with a full stomach doesn't make war.' John believed that, and he believed in education for everybody," Hess said.

Chrystal made as many as 40 trips to the Soviet Union and Russia. Farmer, banker, humanist and in

ternational diplomat are only a few ways to describe Chrystal. But to some, he was much more. "Every once in awhile, somebody comes along who's a giant. I think Chrystal was one of them," Tomson said.