Longtime Pasco business leader Banks dies

A longtime Pasco business leader and public servant is being remembered.

Dick Banks died this week at age 86. He was a member of the Port of Pasco Commission for 12 years and also owned a travel agency and freight business.

He died peacefully, but unexpectedly, on Monday at his home, said his daughter, Gay Banks Olson.

“He was a staunch advocate for Pasco, both the business community and its growth, since he first came here,” she said.

Banks helped oversee the construction of a new terminal building at Tri-Cities Airport, helped hire a new port director and supported the Pasco Processing Center, where a $30 million J.R. Simplot vegetable processing plant was built, according to Herald archives. Banks was a member of a search committee that sought to fill a vacancy on the board in 1983, when he was surprised to learn that he’d been nominated to take the position.

“Dick brought a great deal of technical expertise because he knew the railroads,” said Jim Toomey, whom Banks interviewed for the manager’s position. “But he could keep things light-hearted.”

Banks was not afraid to offer criticism, but was careful to do so in private, Toomey said.

“He kind of set the tone for the strong relationship among the commissioners,” he said.

Banks had spent 15 years working for the Northern Pacific Railway’s Tacoma division as a station agent and telegraph operator. He moved to Pasco in 1961 with his wife, Elaine, and daughters Gay and Joy, to operate PIE Truck Lines.

After 15 years, he opened a freight trucking business with a travel agency next door. He sold the businesses to his daughters in 1991.

Banks also served as a chamber of commerce and Kiwanis Club president and board member for the Tri-Cities Development Council, Olson said. He met regularly with other business leaders, including Ed Hendler, Charlie Grigg and Mark Pence.

“The old-time businessmen who really made Pasco what it is today,” she said. “He survived most of them.”

The family is working on setting up a Dec. 8 memorial service on what would have been the Banks’ wedding anniversary, Olson said.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 8:51 PM with the headline "Longtime Pasco business leader Banks dies."