Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 06/02) - A Yellowknife banking pioneer and Bay Street powerhouse died Oct. 24 in Toronto.

Allen Lambert, 91, cut his teeth as manager of the Bank of Toronto -- Yellowknife's first -- from 1946-1948. He later became chief executive officer and chair of the Toronto Dominion Bank, before retiring in 1978.

The original bank building Lambert managed in Yellowknife still stands today although it stopped providing service in 1953. It is a heritage site located off Otto Drive on Latham Island.

The small, log building was constructed in 1938 and is one of Yellowknife's oldest buildings.

The present manager of Yellowknife's Toronto Dominion Bank, Mike Adamchick, says Lambert had always felt a connection Yellowknife, long after he left the North for Bay Street.

"He had a special place in his heart for Yellowknife," said Adamchick, who met Lambert once at a banking convention in Toronto in 1985. "It was his first management position."

Lambert returned once to Yellowknife, in February 1973, as CEO to cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Toronto Dominion Bank at its current location on Franklin Ave.

It was a triumphant return for Lambert. The Bank of Toronto, which by then had merged with the Dominion Bank of Canada, had been out of the North for 20 years.

"In 1973, his goal was to have a bank in every province and territory," said Ernie Stark, who was the Franklin Ave. bank's first administrator. He now runs a private accounting firm in Alberta.

Stark added that Lambert was a "responsible person, very comfortable to talk to."

According to archived reports from Toronto-Dominion, Lambert vowed to then-Mayor Fred Henne and deputy commissioner John Parker, that the TD Bank was here to stay.

"I see for Yellowknife a great future," Lambert said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. His trip included a visit to the old log cabin branch he once managed.

Funeral services for Lambert were held last week in Toronto.