[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20087]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING BOB WILMERS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on another sad note and before I move to 
the substance of the day, I want to spend a moment in recognizing a 
dear friend of mine who passed away this weekend, Bob Wilmers, one of 
the most respected and prominent benefactors in Buffalo, NY--one of the 
great cities in my State and in our country.
  Very few men had done as much for Buffalo since its founding hundreds 
of years ago as Bob Wilmers had done for the last several decades. He 
was the chairman of M&T Bank. He helped the bank grow from a small bank 
into one of the largest employers in the region--6,500 employees. As he 
built the business and created thousands of good-paying, middle-class 
jobs, he helped Upstate New York dramatically.
  M&T Bank was a large bank, but it was not one of these banks that 
engaged in swaps overseas or other risky types of investments. It lent 
money to small businesses, and it had a deep caring for the communities 
which it served. It was a model bank, in my opinion. It did an amazing 
job in helping to revitalize our upstate economy, which has had trouble 
over the last several decades due to so many different things, 
including bad trade policies.
  Bob was also not just committed to the bank, which he loved, as he 
loved the employees, cared about them, and was such an honorable 
employee; he was also committed to Buffalo and philanthropy. He 
directed almost $5 million to local nonprofit organizations in New 
York--the bank did under his leadership. That is because Bob himself 
was a philanthropist. He was a man with a big heart, and he always gave 
in every way. He spent many years supporting one of the great art 
museums in America, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and the Buffalo 
Philharmonic Orchestra, just to name a couple. He was a booster to 
everything Buffalo. He was never in the camp that thought Buffalo's 
best days were behind her. He always believed in Buffalo's potential 
and its future and helped to make that happen. The city of Buffalo is 
turning around. We are so proud in so many different ways. It is, in 
good part, because of Bob Wilmers.
  On a personal level, my wife and I will miss him. He visited my wife 
for lunch a few months ago. He was 83 years old, and he was on his 
rickety, old bike and rode through the streets of New York City to meet 
her so that they could have lunch.
  Bob's wife Elisabeth and Iris and I spent many happy hours together. 
He was a brilliant man, a brilliant banker, decent, caring, and civic-
minded. The loss is the Wilmers family's, and our condolences go to 
Elisabeth. It is a loss for Buffalo and the United States. Bob will be 
truly missed. His untimely death has sent shock waves throughout New 
York State, and we will miss him so.

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