Charles Cawley, founder of MBNA, dies at 75
Charles Cawley, who founded the credit card giant MBNA Corp. and left a lasting mark on Maine with his philanthropy, died Wednesday morning at his home in Camden. He was 75.
Cawley and MBNA transformed the state, especially in the midcoast area, by employing thousands and funding construction projects, including state-of-the-art athletic fields, the Point Lookout corporate retreat in Northport and Belfast’s Hutchinson Center, which is leased to the University of Maine for just $1 a year, according to Bangor Daily News’ obituary for Cawley.
Cawley founded MBNA Corp. in Delaware in 1983 and opened an office in Camden in the early 1990s. It later moved to Belfast after some in Camden opposed its expansion plans. The company marketed specialty credit cards to organizations, known as affinity lending.
When Cawley retired as CEO at the end of 2003, the company employed about 28,000 people, including nearly 5,000 in Maine, according to the BDN.
Bank of America bought MBNA in 2006 for $35 billion and in 2014 folded the card division into its retail bank, according to Bloomberg.
In a story about Cawley and MBNA published earlier this year by Island Institute’s Tom Groening, a former editor and reporter for the Bangor Daily News, described the sometimes uneasy relationship between the midcoast region and the credit card firm. Groening wrote what was seen by some as exuberant spending by the company and its top managers’ “rankled many a Yankee’s frugal values.”
Still, MBNA had a profound impact on the landscape of the midcoast, Groening wrote, supporting countless schools, libraries, cultural organizations and other nonprofits.
“It was a level of giving that recalled donors such as Carnegie and Rockefeller,” Groening wrote.
When Lincolnville Central School suddenly had to close because of mold problems, MBNA built a school in 54 days on the grounds of its retreat center on Ducktrap Mountain.
“He was a unique individual,” former Gov. John Baldacci told the BDN of Cawley. “He cared deeply about the state of Maine.”
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