Richard T. Greene, Sr. papers

Richard Thaddeus Greene, Sr. (1913-2006) was born on July 18, 1913, to Martha Black and Richard D. Greene. He attended the Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, S.C., and graduated in 1933. After his high school graduation, he attended Hampton University (formerly Hampton Institute) and graduated in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He started his professional career in business at Citizen's and Southern Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pa., but his time at the company was interrupted by World War II and his subsequent service in the United States Army from 1941 to 1945. After being discharged from the Army as captain, he and his wife, Virginia Lea, moved to New York City, and Richard returned to his professional career.

Between 1945 and 1960, he worked as a national advertising representative and business manager for Associated Publishers, Inc. and Interstate United Newspapers, two Black advertising companies based in New York City. In 1960, he was hired at Carver Federal Savings Bank as the executive assistant to Joseph Davis, the founder and president of the bank. This would begin a 35-year career with the Carver Federal Savings Bank and culminated in his rise to president, chief executive officer, and director of the bank. He oversaw moving the bank's main office from Brooklyn to Harlem and adding additional offices throughout the city, navigated the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, and handled the aftermath of a 1992 fire destroying the bank's headquarters. He retired as president in 1995 and as chairman in 1997. Outside of his professional career, his affiliations were numerous and included the Harlem Business Alliance (as a co-founder), the Apollo Theater Foundation, the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, the New York branch of the NAACP, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Alpha Sigma Boulé.