Looking Back to 1993: 'Duddie' buys Commerce Bank

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This year, the Worcester Business Journal marks its 25th anniversary. In each print edition, we will highlight a major event that took place within the Central Massachusetts business community between 1990 and 2014 and how that event impacts today's business scene.

Later this year, on Oct. 13, we will publish a special 25th Anniversary commemorative edition in which we will look at the companies and business leaders who made a difference in the region, and we'll look ahead to what the coming years could bring.

EVENT: David “Duddie” Massad, owner of three automobile dealerships in Central Massachusetts, agrees to buy Worcester-based Commerce Bank.

RECAP: Commerce was estimated to be worth about $6 million to $7 million in late 1993, when Massad agreed to buy it. Commerce had lost nearly $3 million in the three calendar years before he stepped forward. It had been under scrutiny by two national research and rating firms that cover banks. One, Bauer Financial Reports Inc., of Florida, had placed Commerce on its “troubled bank and thrift” list. (Commerce denied at the time that it was in trouble.)

FAST FORWARD: More than 20 years later, Commerce is the largest bank headquartered in Worcester County, with more than $1.55 billion in deposits and more than $1.68 billion in assets. In 2012, it expanded eastward when it bought Boston-based Mercantile Bank & Trust for $26.5 million.

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Looking back to 2011: Fidelity ships out of Marlborough