Kevin T. Reardon, the last president of the First National Bank of Joliet before it was merged into what is now the BMO, has died.

Reardon, 89, died at his home Monday, according to his obituary posted on the website of Carlson Holmquist Sayles Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements.

Reardon was a Joliet banker for 41 years.

He followed in the footsteps of his father, Charles Reardon, who preceded Kevin as president of First National Bank of Joliet.

“It’s time,” Reardon told The Herald-News in 2002 when he decided to retire after the bank was acquired by Harris Bank the previous year. “But it will be difficult because I’ve loved all of my 41 years at the bank."

The First National Bank of Joliet was formed in 1857. It was the only Joliet bank to survive the Great Depression.

Reardon’s position as president of the city’s most prominent local bank put him among the most important business people in Joliet.

He was recognized Tuesday at the meeting of the Joliet City Council, where Reardon’s daughter-in-law, Sherri Reardon, is a council member.

“Kevin Reardon was a stalwart in the community,” Mayor Terry D’Arcy said. “He was a banker. He was a benevolent man.”

After the meeting, D’Arcy, who owns car dealerships in Joliet and Morris and is known for his philanthropy in the community, said his own willingness to contribute to local causes was shaped in large part by Reardon.

“He taught me how to give back to the community,” D’Arcy said. “He told me, ‘Don’t be afraid to let people know that you want to help.’”

Sherri Reardon was not at the council meeting Tuesday because of her father-in-law’s passing. Councilwoman Reardon is married to Kevin Reardon’s son, Michael Reardon.

Council members expressed their condolences and remarked on Kevin Reardon’s influence in Joliet.

“He was a big part of the community for a lot of years,” Councilman Larry Hug said.

Michael Reardon also was an officer at the First National Bank of Joliet before its sale to Harris Bank.

The Reardon family’s influence at the bank may have been one of the last, if not the last, remnants of another era in which people born and bred in Joliet were the major influences in shaping the local economy.

Reardon in the 2002 interview with late Herald-News columnist John Whiteside talked about the lessons he learned from his father, Charles, about the banking business.

“He had unbelievable common sense and leadership,” Reardon said. “When he talked, I listened. I learned 98 percent from him and 2 percent in college.”

Reardon’s obituary notes his involvement in numerous local organizations, including the old Guardian Angel Home, George Werden Buck Boys and Girls Club, Our Lady of Angels Home, Rialto Square Theatre, Joliet Kiwanis Club, Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Will County Center for Economic Development.

Lewis University honored Reardon with an honorary doctorate of humanities in 2000.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home located at 2320 Black Road in Joliet. A funeral mass for Reardon will be said at 10 a.m. Friday at Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus.