Stephen Arthur "Steve" Hansel

Stephen Arthur (""Steve"") Hansel, a prominent New Orleans business and civic leader, died unexpectedly at 76 years of age on Saturday, February 3rd of acute rapid onset pneumonia. He was surrounded in death by his loving family. Steve was born in Long Branch, New Jersey to Paul G. Hansel and Helen Stephens Hansel. He spent his early life on Long Island, New York, before moving to Florida at the age of 14. He was a proud graduate of Northeast High School in St. Petersburg. Steve then went back north to Wesleyan University in Connecticut for his undergraduate years before attending the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia where he earned an MBA. Steve made lifelong friends in the Advanced Management Program and Corporate Financial Management program at Harvard Business School.

In 1968, Steve married Miriam ""Mimi"" Dodenhoff, and together they started a family. In 1971, Steve began his banking career at Florida-based Barnett Bank. A leading authority on bank due diligence, Steve helped to grow Barnett from less than $3 billion in assets in 1978 to $33 billion at year-end 1991. Barnett, the 10th largest bank in the United States at the time, would ultimately sell to Nations Bank (later Bank of America) for $15.5 billion, then the largest bank merger in United States history.

In 1982, Steve faced his toughest battle when Mimi was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension; their life together was tragically cut short upon her death in 1985. Before she died, she and Steve established the Foundation for Pulmonary Hypertension, the first of its kind for her rare condition, and seeded close to $1 million in research at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In her loving memory, Steve continued serving as President of the foundation and worked to raise funds to combat the disease throughout all the years of his life.

A natural leader, Steve had an uncanny ability to connect with everyone, from the captains of finance to the tellers on the banking floor. From the age of 20, he knew he wanted to run a company and, in 1992, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Hibernia Corporation and Hibernia National Bank. During Steve's tenure, Hibernia quadrupled in assets, becoming the largest bank in Louisiana and earning him recognition throughout the banking industry. In 2001, Hibernia was named by Forbes as one of America's 400 best companies, fulfilling Steve's goal of making Hibernia one of the best banks in the country. After leaving banking in 2000, Steve co-founded Eclectic Investment Partners, LP, and served as Chairman of Eclectic Investment Management, LLC. Steve was a member of the Greater New Orleans Business Council, a Board Member of the Bank Administration Institute, and a Member of the Federal Advisory Council serving the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States.

Steve's service to others was a defining tenet of his life. Along with his beloved wife Dana, he supported countless organizations in New Orleans and beyond. Notable among his board service were his dedication to the Foundation for Pulmonary Hypertension and his tenure as a Trustee and a Trustee Emeritus for Wesleyan University. He was awarded the Wesleyan Alumni Service Award, the Young Leadership Council Role Model Award, and was honored with giving the Commencement Address for Tulane University's Freeman School of Business. Steve possessed an unwavering belief in the uplifting power of education. As a result of this passion, he underwrote the Paul G. Hansel scholarship at the University of Kansas School of Engineering as well as establishing an Arts Scholarship at Wesleyan University named for Miriam D. Hansel. Steve had a passion for art, serving as the Chairman of the New Orleans Museum of Art's Board of Directors and leading the Investment Committee. He was a lifelong active art collector, assembling an impressive group of paintings and sculptures which he proudly made available for exhibitions across the world.

No one who had the privilege of knowing Steve will be likely to forget his affinity for relaying (occasionally long-winded) witty vignettes, or his encyclopedic knowledge of, among other things, art, and the history of banking. His friends and family knew him as a cut-throat gin rummy aficionado and a fierce Monopoly player; his family enjoyed many hours of intense Monopoly play, marked by ""creative"" rules involving financial engineering and joint ventures. A lifelong sports fan, Steve was a devoted follower of professional tennis and the New Orleans Saints, an occasional sailor, a one-time champion wrestler, and an aggressive rugby and tennis player. On one particularly memorable day, he defeated former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan in a friendly tennis match. He thoroughly enjoyed his weekly standing tennis game at the New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club, where he was known for his ""wicked"" serve. Steve was a member of the Pickwick Club and several other Carnival and civic organizations. He adored Carnival parades and loved nothing more than riding on Mardi Gras day.

Steve was a man of unfaltering loyalty and was devoted to his beloved family. He had a tireless work ethic, uncompromising standards, and a deep faith in God. He was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith and contributed to the restoration of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral after it was devastated by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina; he was very proud of his Greek heritage and visited Greece regularly. Steve will be remembered for his generosity and humility, preferring private acts of charity over public recognition.

Steve was preceded in death by his parents and his late wife, Miriam. He is survived by his brothers James Hansel (Stacey) and Greg Hansel (Anne), and by his loving wife, Dana Meeks Hansel. He is also survived by his children: Derek Stephen Hansel (Amy), Andrew Troy Hansel (Tonya), Paula Hansel DeLess (Tracy). He is also survived by his sons Alexander Stephen Hansel and Nicholas Perry Hansel (Gracie) and their mother and his former wife Sarah H. Klein. He was devoted to his granddaughters Elizabeth Hansel, Althea Hansel, Corinne Hansel, Mazzy Hansel, and Sofia Hansel, and to his grandsons Brice Crull, Zachary DeLess, Mason DeLess, and Iko Hansel, and to his great-granddaughters Athena DeLess, Addison DeLess, and Rowyn DeLess.

A service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church on Thursday, February 8th at 11:00 AM with visitation beginning at 10:00 AM. Interment will be private.

It was Steve's wish that any memorial tributes kindly be made in the form of charitable donations to the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA 70124, or to the charity of your choice.