Necrology

Paul Wells Kremer '59

May. 19, 1938-Sep. 11, 2007

Paul Wells Kremer ’59, a banker who in midlife took up a career in Florida real estate, was born on May 19, 1938, in Buffalo, NY. A son of Paul J., a corporation comptroller, and Evelyn Wells Kremer, he grew up in the Buffalo suburb of Eggertsville and was graduated from Amherst Central High School in Snyder. Paul Kremer came to College Hill in 1955 and joined Alpha Delta Phi. He lettered in soccer and golf, and was a member of the 1959 golf team that compiled a winning season of 6-2-2. In addition, he sang in the Choir while also serving as its concert manager. Married on January 24, 1959, during his senior year, to (Helen) Gail Hirsch in Buffalo, he left the Hill that June with his diploma and, in the words of The Hamiltonian, “as a mellowed Blatz drinker and an aspiring family man.”

Paul Kremer stayed on for a year in Clinton to hold down an entry-level job at the Hayes National Bank. It marked the beginning of a highly successful 33-year career in banking. In 1960, he returned to Buffalo to join the Marine Midland Trust Co. of Western New York. Appointed assistant manager of its Lockport office in 1964, he was promoted to assistant vice president in 1968. He left Marine Midland as a vice president in 1974 to become vice president and senior lending officer at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., also in Buffalo. The following year, he was named senior vice president, and in 1979, he moved to the Albany area as president and chief executive officer of the bank’s Capital Region operations.

While in the Buffalo area, Paul Kremer was very much involved in community service, and especially through activities with the Lockport Junior Chamber of Commerce, which named him “Outstanding Young Man of the Year” and presented him with its Distinguished Service Award in 1970. Besides serving as chairman of the board and treasurer of the Lockport Jaycees, he was treasurer of the Eastern Niagara United Appeal and active in the First Presbyterian Church as treasurer and first president of its Board of Deacons. He was also one of the founders of the Lockport junior hockey program, for which he coached and refereed.

In 1982, Paul Kremer and his family relocated to Clearwater, FL, where he continued his banking career for another decade as vice president for commercial lending at Pioneer Savings Bank and later as president and CEO of Sovereign Savings Bank in Palm Harbor. Thereafter, in light of unwelcome changes in the banking environment, he decided to give real estate a try as a licensed broker. As president of Mark IV Realty Co. in Ft. Myers, he became engaged in residential construction and development. His associate in the business was Catherine (Kay) Smith, who, some years after the end of his first marriage, became for him “the ‘greatest significant other’ partner in the world.” He and Kay were wed in 2000, and they made their home in Palm Harbor.

Through the years, Paul Kremer remained an ardent golfer, maintaining a low handicap and winning several championships. Ever willing and eager to lend a helping hand to friends and neighbors, his generosity of spirit and means extended to his alma mater, and he was unfailing in his loyalty to and support of Hamilton. One of the expressions of his generosity is the Robert William Kremer Memorial Scholarship, named for his brother, who died at the age of 7.

Paul W. Kremer’s long and determined battle with cancer ended on September 11, 2007. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters and a son from his first marriage, Deborah L., Susan E., and David R. Kremer, as well as eight grandchildren.

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