Banker Phil Corneil Helped Pioneer Loans For Consumers

A pioneer in the business of consumer bank loans, Phil Corneil couldn't afford to make bad decisions.

In his low-key manner, he would quietly assess the risk of a potential loan. After considering every angle, he'd render his verdict.

"He was a very deliberate thinker but a very astute businessman," said Bill Lauman, a banking colleague and family friend who knew Mr. Corneil for nearly 50 years. "He moved slowly, but what he said was important."

For Mr. Corneil, the reserved style worked. He began his career as an assistant farm-loan purchasing agent in Spokane in the early 1930s. By the time he retired in 1975, he had become the third-highest-ranking officer at Seafirst Bank.

He died Wednesday (June 22) after a long illness. He was 84.

When Mr. Corneil moved from Spokane, where he was born, to join Seafirst in Seattle in 1945, he brought loan expertise to an industry branching into the consumer-lending arena for the first time.

From his position in the commercial-credit department, Mr. Corneil moved up the ranks, elected vice president of Seafirst in 1953 and executive vice president and senior lending officer in 1961. He served on the bank's board of directors from 1969 to 1975.

"He was kind of behind the scenes, but he had a very powerful influence on the direction of the bank," Lauman said.

In 1989, the University of Idaho honored Mr. Corneil as a distinguished alumnus, an award his wife said was given to eight graduates of the School of Economics.

After his retirement, Mr. Corneil remained active in business by working with the Small Business Association's banker-relations office. And he continued his longtime involvement as a volunteer with the Salvation Army, serving on the advisory board and ringing bells on street corners during the holiday season.

But his retirement also allowed him to spend more time with his family. His first wife, Helen Jean, had died in 1977. He had known his second wife, Marie, since college.

For the past 15 years, Phil and Marie Corneil would head to Fort Worden, near Port Townsend, to celebrate Easter and visit children and grandchildren.

During the Fort Worden visits Mr. Corneil got to know his grandchildren by joining in family baseball games. "They'd take third base to grandpa, instead of him stealing third base," his daughter, Carolyn Jackson, recalled.

In addition to his wife, Marie, and his daughter, Carolyn of Bellevue, Mr. Corneil is survived by two other daughters, Ann Nye of Redmond and Virginia Rohde of Bellevue; a son, Philip Corneil of Redmond; and eight grandchildren.

Mr. Corneil is also survived by a sister, Jean Johnson, of Spokane, and stepsons Jeffrey Davis of New Jersey and Glenn Davis of Spokane.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at St. Mark's Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Remembrances may be made to the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 9219, Seattle, WA 98109, or the Providence Hospital of Seattle, 425 Pontius Ave. N., Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98109.