Former chairman, CEO of PNC was ‘banker’s banker’

Former PNC Bank chairman and CEO Robert C. Milsom, a community-minded banker and a founding father of what is today the Pittsburgh region’s largest bank, died Thursday at UPMC St. Margaret of a heart attack. He was 92.

Mr. Milsom of Fox Chapel began his banking career at Peoples First National Bank and Trust, a predecessor to PNC Financial Services Group, on Oct. 18, 1948.

James Rohr, who would later become PNC chairman and CEO, considered Mr. Milsom his mentor.

“He was a banker’s banker,” Mr. Rohr said. “I learned an enormous amount from Bob, the way he treated people. He was a gentleman beyond belief.”

“He was customer-oriented, yet managed the bank responsibly,” Mr. Rohr said.

A native of Butler, Mr. Milsom received basketball and football scholarships from Duquesne University, where he enrolled in 1942. He enlisted in the U.S. Army the following January, rising to the rank of first lieutenant in the infantry. He saw action in France and Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s last major offensive. At the end of the war, Mr. Milsom was assigned to the military police, where his imposing 6foot, 5-inch frame gave him credibility as night court judge of Paris under martial law.

“He ran Paris at night as a 21-year-old lieutenant,” said his daughter, Christine Kobus of Fox Chapel. “He was just an outstanding father as well as citizen of Pittsburgh and the United States.”

Upon discharge, Mr. Milsom attended John Carroll University in Cleveland, graduating in 1948 and joining Peoples First the same year. He was put in charge of the bank’s commercial banking operation in 1965, six years after the merger that created Pittsburgh National Bank. Mr. Milsom became president of Pittsburgh National in 1972.

When Pittsburgh National and Provident National combined in 1983 to form PNC Bank in what was at the time the largest bank merger in U.S. history, Mr. Milsom became vice chairman of the merged bank. Mr. Milsom was elected chairman and CEO of the bank holding company’s PNC Bank N.A. unit in 1985. He retired in 1989.

“He was a giant in banking and a founding father of PNC,” said current PNC CFO Robert Reilly, Mr. Milsom’s nephew.

Mr. Reilly said that for him, Mr. Rohr, retired PNC chairman Thomas O’Brien and many others at PNC, Mr. Milsom “was a personal and professional hero.”

While overseeing the growing bank, Mr. Milsom was active in community service. He was on the boards of the Regional Industrial Development Corp., the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, United Way of Allegheny County, the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, Mercy Hospital and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.

“He believed the bank’s responsibility was to give back to the community,” Mr. Rohr said.

Mr. Milsom also served on the boards of H.H. Robertson Co., Visa USA, Visa International, Foxwall Emergency Medical Service and John Carroll.

“Somehow, he was able to do all that and still come home for dinner every night,” Ms. Kobus said.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Milsom is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joan Miller Milsom; sons Robert III of Butler and Mark of Cleveland, Ga.; and six grandchildren.

Service and interment will be private. A reception in Mr. Milsom’s honor will be held in the future.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Foxwall Emergency Medical Service, 145 Squaw Run Road, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15238.