Kalamazoo County State Bank (KCSB) remembers their great leader and mentor James (Mac) MacPhee. Mac passed on September 11, 2020, after his brave yearlong battle with brain cancer.
“As we celebrate our 115th Anniversary as a community bank, we have to recognize our amazing and passionate community bank leader Jim MacPhee,” said KCSB President and CEO Scott Hines. “Mac, as we fondly called him, was a fierce advocate for community banking and well respected among his peers. He was totally devoted to his family, friends and our community. Mac always said that he found the most pleasure when he was helping the families and businesses in in our small communities reach their financial goals and dreams.”
MacPhee joined KCSB in 1972. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 1981 and named Chief Executive Officer and appointed to the Board of Directors of KCSB in 1990. MacPhee retired from the Bank in 2016 and continued to sit on the Board of Directors for KCSB, First State Bank in Decatur, the ICBA Federal Board, and committees, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis.
During his banking career, MacPhee had been a state and national community bank leader entrusted by his fellow community bankers to ensure that community bankers have a voice in Lansing and Washington. He made it his mission to take the community bank message to policymakers, so they understood the unique role of community banking.
With his passion and commitment to community banking early in his career, MacPhee became involved in the Independent Community Banking of America (ICBA) in 1984. Over the years, he was elected to the Association’s board of directors in 1997 and appointed in 1998 to serve as an at-large director. In 2010, MacPhee served as the Chairman of ICBA. His ICBA assignments would span nearly every standing and ICBA services corporation board – including the Congressional Affairs, Policy Development, Tax, Lending, Membership and Strategic Planning, Education and ICBPAC committees.
MacPhee had also been elected to the position of Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis(FHLBI). The FHLBI is a wholesale funding source for mortgages by its member institutions in Indiana and Michigan. It is part of a system of 12 such banks across the United States established in 1932. MacPhee was elected to the position by over 200 banks in Michigan that are members of the FHLBI.
The Community Bankers of Michigan (CBM), was also an important part of MacPhee’s career. He was a member of the Association since he joined KCSB in 1972. He was elected vice president of the Association’s board of directors in 1994 and chairman in 1996.
Leaving a tremendous legacy to the community banking franchise, MacPhee is also known for his enduring motto that he shared with all he befriended, “Always remember to have a little fun every day.”
“With a steadfast belief in community banking and a passion for our local community bank, I know I speak for everyone in our banking family – both within our KCSB family and throughout the nation, we owe so much of our success over the years to our great leader,” said Hines. “We continue to send our love and support to Mac’s family. He always said he was the luckiest guy on earth because of his wife and daughters. We are still the luckiest bankers to have had Mac as our leader and dear friend.”