Rasmuson, Elmer E.

Elmer Edwin Rasmuson was born on February 15, 1909 in Yakutat, Alaska. Rasmuson was employed at National Investors Group in New York from 1933 to 1935, and at Arthur Andersen & Co. from 1935 to 1943. In 1943, Rasmuson returned to Alaska to become the third president of the Bank of Alaska (renamed National Bank of Alaska in Anchorage in 1950 and National Bank of Alaska in 1960.). Rasmuson was nominated for Governor of Alaska Territory in 1952, but not appointed. He served as Swedish Vice Consul and Consul from 1955-1977, and served as President of the University of Alaska Board of Regents from 1956-1969. Rasmuson served as mayor of Anchorage from 1964-1967, and became chairman of the board of the National Bank of Alaska in 1965. In 1968, Rasmuson defeated Ted Stevens to win the Republican primary, but lost the Senate general election to Mike Gravel. He established the Heritage Library and Museum at the National Bank of Alaska in 1968 and, in that same year, Rasmuson and his wife Mary Louise founded the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Also in 1968, Rasmuson was appointed to the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission and was reappointed for the next fifteen years. Rasmuson served as the first chairman of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation's Board of Trustees. He retired from the National Bank of Alaska's Board of Directors to become Chairman Emeritus in 1989. Rasmuson died on December 1, 2000 at the age of 91.

The Bank of Alaska was incorporated in Skagway, Alaska, in 1916. In that same year the first branch opened in Wrangell, followed by another branch in the tent city of Anchorage. In 1919, Edward Anton Rasmuson was appointed president of the bank. By 1941, bank deposits exceeded $4 million. Elmer E. Rasmuson became bank president in 1943. Bank headquarters shifted to Anchorage in 1946, and the bank became a member of FDIC in 1949. In 1960, the Miners and Merchants Bank of Ketchikan, Bank of Wrangell, First Bank of Sitka, Bank of Homer, and Bank of Kodiak were consolidated into the newly renamed National Bank of Alaska. The Bank of Petersburg merged with NBA in 1972 and, in 1982, ATM service was introduced. The National Bank of Alaska acquired Alaska National Bank of the North and merged with First Interstate Bank of Alaska in 1987. National Bank of Alaska consolidated with Wells Fargo Bank in 2000.