Charles S. Ganoe, a retired banker and consultant, passed away in Princeton Hospital at age 94 on October 3rd, 2023. The cause of his death was heart failure according to his family.
Born in Abington, PA, to Robert L. Ganoe and Leonette Rehfuss Ganoe, Charlie grew up in Philadelphia attending William Penn Charter School for twelve years, graduating from Princeton University and receiving an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1952, Charlie joined the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company (later known as Fidelity Bank) as a trainee, rising to Senior Executive Vice President and Director of the bank and its holding company. During much of this period, Charlie managed the bank’s fast growing International Department, opening an international banking office in New York and establishing ten offices and subsidiaries overseas. During this time, he also served as President of the Washington-based trade association for international banking, Bankers Association for Foreign Trade, was on the Board of the Export-Import Bank and was an informal advisor on international finance to several government agencies.
Charlie moved to Princeton in 1979 to take senior executive positions successively with The New York Bank for Savings, American Express International Bank and The First American Bank of New York. In 1995, he opened his own consulting office, Ganoe Associates, in Princeton which he maintained until 2019 providing marketing advice for investment managers and, in later years, clubs and associations.
During the course of his career, Charlie was an officer and/or a board member of a number of companies and organizations. This included President of the Wharton Graduate School Alumni Association, the Princeton University Class of 1951, the Philadelphia Council for International Visitors, the Philadelphia Chapter of the Robert Morris Associates (now Risk Management Associates), and Princeton’s Constitution Hill Property Association. He also was Secretary Treasurer of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and the Philadelphia Committee on Foreign Relations.
Charlie enjoyed writing. He was co-author of two books on international banking, won several awards for the dozens of pieces written for professional journals and wrote a number of articles for general US and European publications ranging from The New York Times to the Princeton Alumni Weekly.
Charlie traveled to Europe more than 100 times and flew around the world four times. All told, he visited more than 100 countries in all parts of the world. In addition to business, he was an adventurous personal traveler; he was one of the first Americans to visit the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin, and his travels in the recent years prior to his death took him to such places as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tibet, and North Korea. He and his wife loved good food and they always tried to eat at the top restaurants in the countries they visited. They were proud that, at one point in time, they had eaten at every Michelin 3-star restaurant in New York, London, Paris and the Riviera, as well as the Spanish El Bulli, long rated the #1 restaurant in the world.
Captain of his high school baseball team, Charlie was an avid sports follower, especially Princeton football and basketball. He took up road racing at age 50; by the time he ran his final 10k race at age 76, he had competed in over 500 races including 12 marathons in the US and Europe and over 40 half-marathons.
Charlie was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations for more than 45 years. He was also a member of the Delta Psi Fraternity (St. Anthony Hall), the Ausable Club, Princeton Club of New York, Merion Cricket Club, Nassau Club, and the Old Guard of Princeton. He and his family own a cottage on the grounds of the Ausable Club in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks where he spent his summer vacations and occasional holiday weekends in the winter. He and his wife also regularly vacationed in St. Barths in January.
Charlie was predeceased in 2009 by his wife, the former Frances-Sue “Susie” Williams, a prize-winning gardener who was the daughter of R. Norris Williams II, a survivor of the Titanic and winner of two US singles titles, five US doubles, one Wimbledon doubles, and one Olympic doubles title. He is survived by two daughters, Hemsley Ganoe Hughes (James) of NYC and Leyden, MA and Alice Ganoe of Larchmont, NY, plus five grandchildren: William, Cate, Kurt, James and John.
Burial is strictly private. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Princeton University Class of 1951 Annual Giving; PO Box 5357, Princeton, NJ 08543.
