Professional Profile: James Bent - 1966

Name: James Bent - 1966

Title: -

Company: Hartford Federal Savings

Location: Hartford, Conn.

Birthplace: Lee, Mass. – 1905

Education: H.S.; Trinity College (Class of 1928) Member: Society Residential Appraisers; Advisory Council on Banking of Conn.; Savings and Loan Advisory Comm. to U.S. Treasury; Advisory Council to FHA; Advisory Comm. on Cooperatives to Admin. of Agcy. for International Development; Trinity College (Tr.); Hartford School for Blind; Hartford Hospital, corporator; Mt. Sinai Hospital & Health Care Facilities Planning Council for Hartford; and many other Directorships; Trusteeships; awards, and political memberships. Jim became a banker “by accident”. “I had an office which could house a small institution in 1935, so I headed the management office as Sec./Tres. at no salary. In fact we were in debt to the tune of $25,000,” Jim said. Today, the firm has 118 employees and is worth about $155 million: “We give out about $25 million a year – we have to, just to break even,” he commented. Whether Jim is hunting and fishing in the Berkshires, or establishing a bank in Guatemala, or traveling about the country on State Department business, he’s a man who makes things happen: “We set up the first trade show on an airstrip touring Europe, The Yankee Peddler, which we dubbed the flying showcase. It was an effort made by 13 companies to promote foreign trade,” Jim recalled. Speaking of the economic position of the U.S. at this time, Jim stated: “We’re knocking on the door of inflation, and if the federal government doesn’t do something soon we’ll be in trouble. This war economy is terribly hard on people living on fixed incomes – it’s like a sugar coated pill, it tastes good at first, but it’s pretty bitter later on. The federal government will have to face this situation bluntly.”