We’re glad to see Jerry Vainisi honored for his Super Bowl year as general manager of the Bears. As the intervening 25 years of frustration attests, building a Super Bowl winning team is tough and ought to be treasured.
Mainly though Vainisi’s recent Sports Hall of Fame honor is an opportunity to remind our readers that Vainisi’s really lasting accomplishment has been in preserving, energizing and rebuilding Forest Park National Bank. Over the 20-plus years of his ownership of the hometown bank, Vainisi and his talented colleagues have created the model of a modern and traditional community bank.
Forest Park National has weathered the recent fury of bank disintegration across the nation because its sound but innovative efforts in investing in the strength of Forest Park have paid dividends.
Look up and down Madison Street and across Forest Park and you see the evidence of Jerry Vainisi’s faith in our community, his vision for our community. In a world of disconnected mega-banks Forest Park is fortunate to have Forest Park National Bank.
