Bill Belaney, who became the first full-time public relations director for a credit union 57 years ago, passed away Aug. 15 from complications he suffered from a fall.
He was 89.
Before he launched his credit union and banking career, Belaney worked for 12 years in radio broadcasting as an announcer, newscaster, news director and program director. He also produced national broadcasts for ABC.
In 1959, Belaney joined the staff of General Motors Truck & Coach Federal Credit Union in Pontiac, Mich., now known as the $2.1 billion Genisys Credit Union in Auburn Hills. He was the first person in the U.S. to serve in the full-time capacity of promotion, education and public relations.
Belaney also served as an adviser to credit unions on both state and national levels. In 1966, he was elected president of the Cooperative Editorial Association, which is currently known as the Cooperative Communications Association.
Belaney worked with others in the late 1960s on a credit union group project that later became CUES. He also was a guest speaker at numerous credit union league annual meetings from coast to coast and several provinces in Canada.
In 1972, he became an EVP of marketing for Pontiac State Bank and National Bank of Detroit. In 1979, Belaney received the Bank Marketing Association’s Golden Coin Award for Excellence in marketing, the top bank marketing award in the country for banks with less than $500 million in assets.
The award was for his work to organize a network of credit unions to share ATMs with Pontiac State Bank for a fee. The program was responsible for generating more than $500,000 in fees annually, according to his son, Curt Belaney, a senior account executive for CU Direct.
After taking an early retirement from the banking industry in 1989, he rejoined his former credit union, which had changed its name to Unisys Federal Credit Union in 1990, as its marketing director and retired from there eight years later. Unisys changed its name to USA Credit Union, which was later renamed Genisys Federal Credit Union.
Belaney is survived by his wife, Marge, of 63 years in Naples, Fla.; daughter Susan Belaney (Michael Kage) in Madison Heights, Mich.; and son Curt (Dorothy Heathcote) in Rochester Hills, Mich.
A memorial service was held on August 20 in Naples, Fla.
The family suggested memorial donations be made in Bill Belaney’s name to the Naples Concert Band, P.O. Box 31, Naples, FL 34106 and the Salvation Army-Naples, 3180 Estey Avenue, Naples, FL 34104.
