May 13, 2010

By Rick Winterson

Tuesday’s Business Breakfast at The Venezia, courtesy of Mt. Washington Bank, was jam-packed.  East Boston Bank’s CEO Richard Gavegnano and Mt. Washington President Ed Merritt presented updates on their merger.  The Honorable William Bulger delivered the keynote remarks.  His message:  “Get politically involved.”

Some 300 or more attendees lined up for breakfast at The Venezia Restaurant on Tuesday morning.  The occasion was Mt. Washington Bank’s 11th Annual Business Breakfast, another of those events that have become South Boston traditions.

There was an anticipatory buzz for two good reasons.  The crowd was interested in hearing about the merger between Mt. Washington Bank and East Boston Savings Bank, which cleared its final approval hurdles and became effective as of the first of this year.  Also, the featured speaker was the Honorable William M. Bulger, who is well known to his audiences as South Boston’s spokesman and raconteur-in-chief.

Jim Morgan, Mt. Washington’s Senior VP of Retail Banking, opened the program by promising the tightly organized program would “end promptly at 9 a.m.”.  He then introduced Richard J. Gavegnano, CEO of East Boston Savings Bank. 

Gavegnano was full of optimism about the two banks’ merger.  Quoting directly, he said, “We have a great partnership, which will bring a new vision of community banking to Suffolk County.”

Ed Merritt, President of the Mt. Washington Bank Division of East Boston Savings Bank, then took the podium.  He emphasized that the recently consummated merger gives Mt. Washington the financial strength to be a major originator of commercial loans.  He encouraged the business owners present to “get to know our Loan Officers”.  He went on to describe the joining of the two banks as “a different kind of merger”:  One in which there was no job loss, and one in which Mt. Washington retains its identity.  With evident pride, Merritt pointed to ongoing renovations at Mt. Washington’s Roxbury Highlands, as well as plans for a seventh branch bank soon.

The Honorable William Bulger began his remarks with humorous anecdotes about his political life, including tales of people he respected, as well as some of his verbal battles with his detractors (the Globe, Alan Dershowitz).  Bulger went on to make two serious points, points in which he strongly and visibly believes.  He condemned the length of time we have been fighting in Iraq, a constitutionally dubious war, going as far as to say its cost was one cause of our current recession.  He used the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca to make his second point – that we must become more involved in politics.  His story about the quotation on Joe Moakley’s obelisk in Moakley Park is worth a separate article by itself (soon to follow – Editor).  He closed his talk by saying, “We need you all.  Get involved.”

And the Business Breakfast concluded at 9 a.m., as promised.