RACINE - If Racine had its own George Bailey, the charitable main character in "It's a Wonderful Life," it was banker Jess Levin, say those who know him.

Levin was chairman, chief executive officer and part owner of the Bank of Elmwood, which ceased to exist Friday. State and federal regulators came in, shut it down and turned the assets over to the buyer, Tri City National Bank.

Monday, people who know Levin talked about his impact on the community as head of the bank his father started in 1960. Over and over, they said this community has lost one of its greatest financial boosters.

"(Levin) is possibly the most wonderful, generous, community-minded guy I have ever met," said Karen Johnson, owner of Aha Studios, a local animation company. She served with Levin on the board of the would-be Imaginarium children's museum. Although it was never built, Levin's bank provided the structure which was to house the museum when it bought the former Zahn's building on Monument Square.

Johnson also served on the Bank of Elmwood's board of directors and saw from the inside how Levin ran it.

"He reminds me of George Bailey," she said.

"There was never a time that I talked to him that he wasn't talking about what's best for the community."

Local boy

Levin graduated from Horlick High School, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and came back to run the bank his father founded.

"He always thought of himself as a Racine guy," said Tom Rudey, the bank's former human resources director, who retired in July after 16 years there. He said Levin lives in Fox Point, but that's because his wife, Ellen - whose maiden name, coincidentally, was Levin - lived there when they married.

Rudey enumerated numerous community-minded actions by Levin such as his vigorous, ongoing support for nonprofits and the United Way of Racine County.

"You could literally paper the walls with the awards that Jess and his employees and the bank got over the years," Rudey said.

For the bank's 35th anniversary, he said, the bank created its "35 for 35" awards: $1,000 apiece for 35 local charities. The checks were to be presented at a gala at the Racine Marriott.

But before the event, the Racine Emergency Shelter Taskforce came calling.

"They said, 'We need it today,'" Rudey recalled. Levin approved the request, and REST got its donation on the spot.

Former Racine police chief Richard Polzin recalled when the city was building its Community Oriented Policing house at 1750 Mead St. The second installment on the home was coming due, but grants hadn't yet come through. Naturally, it was the Bank of Elmwood that lent the needed $40,000 at favorable terms.

Risk-taker

"Jess took a lot of risks, he was so dedicated to the community - he probably often did it at the expense of making money," said Racine Mayor John Dickert.

"He was the true definition of a community bank."

Those risks occasionally boomeranged. Laura Sumner Coon said Levin and his bank came through for the former San Juan Diego Middle School, in its second year, when other lenders wouldn't touch it. He authorized a $200,000 line of credit when the school was desperate for operating cash.

"The only thing backing (the credit) was whatever we had, which was a bunch of used desks, used textbooks ... so we had nothing," said Sumner Coon, who was the executive director.

Even when Levin's bank tried to form a lenders' consortium to help the school, she said, "Not a single lending institution would do it."

In June the school closed and still owed the bank $59,000, Sumner Coon said. "We're not going to be able to pay it back. That was always a risk."

"Some would say that was a poor business decision" by Levin, she said. "I would say not. I think Jess Levin and his whole staff really lived up to the idea of community banking."