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Wallace M. Haselton, 89, native of Worcester, vet
Saturday, August 13, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Obituaries

Wallace M. Haselton of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., a retired bank chairman and World War II bomber pilot, died Aug. 1 at his home. He was 89.

Born in Worcester and raised in Reading, Mr. Haselton also lived in Maine and Florida.

Mr. Haselton graduated from Reading High School and attended Boston University’s Evening College of Commerce.

He was accepted to the Navy Air Corps V-5 Pilot Training Program in 1942 and received his wings at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. He flew more than 50 missions in B-24 Liberator Navy patrol bombers. He received five Air Medals, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for an attack on a German submarine.

Though he went back to civilian life in 1946, he returned to active duty in 1952 to serve in the Pentagon as administrative assistant to the chief of Naval Air Intelligence during the Korean War.

Mr. Haselton worked as a bench boy messenger at Shawmut Bank of Boston before and after WWII. He joined Andover National Bank as vice president in 1949 and returned to the company after the Korean War as chief executive officer in 1954, becoming the youngest CEO of a national bank.

He left the bank in 1964 to become president and CEO of Depositors Trust Co. in Maine, and in 1966, he formed the bank holding company Depositors Corp. During the 1970s, he served as director and consultant for men’s apparel chain Bond Stores and consultant to S&H Green Stamps’ bank acquisition program of diversification. During that time, he also helped develop interstate banking legislation.

Mr. Haselton retired in 1988, but kept his ties with UST Corp., becoming chairman of the search committee for a new CEO after the bank recession of early 1990. He served as chairman of the oversight, audit and asset quality committee until retiring from the company in 1999.

Mr. Haselton worked for the next 10 years to have enhanced external counter pulsation machines located throughout the United States to help provide better treatment for patients with heart conditions.

He served on the boards of numerous charities and received citations from governors of Massachusetts and Maine, as well as from former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Ed Muskie and President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Mr. Haselton is survived by his wife, Eleanor; three daughters, Gloria Charat of Rancho Santa Fe, Lee Haselton of West Barnstable and Amy Bolger of Moretown, Vt.; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Arrangements by El Camino Memorial, San Diego.
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