This is the first in an occasional series on Northern Kentucky’s “Legacy Families,” those families who have been involved in the region’s civic and/or business affairs for multi-generations. If you have a suggestion for a Legacy Family feature, please email judy@nkytrib.com
By Judy Clabes
NKyTribune editor
The Grayson family is continuing a multi-generational legacy of community involvement, support of all kinds of good works, leadership in countless organizations – and being all-around good neighbors and engaged citizens that goes back as far as anybody today can remember.
As the third Merwin Grayson – aptly known as Trey – returns home to head the Chamber of Commerce, he brings with him a well-earned national reputation, statewide recognition as the first Northern Kentuckian elected to statewide office in a century, and an abiding affection for his homeplace.
That’s today’s Grayson. Charles Merwin – “Mer” — Grayson Sr., who died in 1998, is the patriarch of the modern day Graysons. He was an unassuming, elegant banker who raised a family in Park Hills back when Edgewood and Villa Hills were just on the drawing boards of local developers. He built a reputation revered today in banking and civic circles.
He was chairman of the board of People’s Liberty Bank in Covington and his obituary back in 1998 proclaimed him “a community activist” who was at the center of many community-good organizations. A successful and popular banker, Mer Sr. was always “the guy in the bank who knew everybody.”
That’s how Mer Jr. remembers his dad – and it’s obviously a trait that extended to the next generation, as Mer Jr. carried on the legacy with determination.
Mer Jr. and Susan
A tall, engaging fellow and friend-to-all, Mer Jr. not only followed in his father’s banking footsteps, he embraced his leadership model and devotion to community as well.
There hardly exists a community organization in Northern Kentucky that Mer Jr. hasn’t been involved in somehow – and usually in a leadership position.
His biggest gift to Northern Kentucky, however, may very well be the bride he brought home, Susan Rhodes Grayson of Paducah, a former Miss Kentucky finalist he met as a student at the University of Kentucky. He had the pleasure of crowning her Queen of the Little Kentucky Derby in May of 1963. Their first date was Derby Day, 1967, some four years later. They married in June of 1968.
Susan embraced the Grayson community service model as well. She taught school, coached cheerleading, and became an avid golfer, a tireless community volunteer, hostess with the mostest — and the anchor of a busy, growing family.
Mer Jr. returned to Northern Kentucky with his bride and his UK degree in business and started his banking career at First National Bank in Cincinnati. He later joined his father at Peoples Liberty Bank. At age 35, he was lured to Covington Trust to oversee its restructuring as president. When Huntington Bank acquired Covington Trust in 1986, Mer Jr. continued as president until “retiring” in 2001.
Sailboating and Dataw Island, S.C., however, was a short-lived retirement plan that ended in 2005 when Central Bank called on the popular local banking icon to head up its entry into the Northern Kentucky market. In ten short years, Central Bank has grown to three locations and more than $150 million in assets.
Mer Jr.’s distinguished career in banking nearly pales, however, in comparison to his impact on the community. He has set a high standard — serving on the governing boards of St. Elizabeth Health Care (chair seven years), St Elizabeth Health Care Foundation (founder and chair for 10 years) Northern Kentucky University (chair), the University of Kentucky, Thomas More College (chair), the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (chair), Greater Cincinnati United Way (chair), The Greater Cincinnati Fine Arts, Tri County Economic Development, and most recently the Northern Kentucky Educational Council, Greater Cincinnati Airport Board and Markey Cancer Center at UK. This list of activities, honors and recognition would go on and on. Last year, he became one of the first inductees into the Northern Kentucky Business Hall of Fame. There are surely records there – and an extraordinary bar for the next generation.
Today, Mer Jr., at 72, is still going strong – but saves his signature accolades – a positive attribute for which he is fondly known — for his only son who decided to take the public service route to advance the family legacy and a daughter who skillfully balances motherhood and a successful career.
“Trey was a very good student and a good athlete in high school,” says the proud dad. But being an Equal Opportunity Proud Father, Mer Jr. is quick to add, “But Suzy was also a very good student and perhaps a better athlete. She played volleyball, basketball, golf and tennis. Her basketball team won the regional tournament and played in the Kentucky State Tournament in 1992.”
The Third Mer
Son Trey recently returned from a stint in the national limelight to become chief executive of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
The 1990 Dixie Heights High School academic stand-out won his first statewide election as Secretary of State in 2003, becoming the youngest Secretary of State in the nation and the first Northern Kentuckian to be elected to a state constitutional office in almost 100 years. He was re-elected in 2007. It came as no surprise that he made a difference — as an advocate for modernizing the office through technology, enhancing civics education in classrooms throughout the state, and in assuring honest elections. He aspired to political office and made a run for the U.S. Senate, losing to Rand Paul in the Republican primary.
But he had caught the notice of influential national decision-makers and was named director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. There he took the family reputation for leadership and involvement to a national level. He became a nationally recognized expert on the political attitudes o Millennials, the 18-29 age group, and on election law.
Trey prepared himself for public service early on. With an undergraduate degree in government from Harvard, he earned the prestigious Bert Combs Scholarship to the University of Kentucky College of Law and got an MBA as well as a law degree.
“I am the son of the son of a banker,” he says with a smile. “I might have gone into banking with my father except that Huntington Bank had nepotism rules.”
With a growing family, however, he set his sights on coming back home and he found the right opportunity when the Chamber leadership position opened up.
Of 100 applicants, Trey prevailed, assuming the job on July 1 – and was welcomed home with open arms. Praised as a consensus-builder and forward-thinker, appreciated for the breadth and depth of his understanding, not just of Northern Kentucky but of national and state issues, and lauded for his “bipartisan” approach, he vowed to spend plenty of time “listening” on issues.
It Runs in the Family
Trey’s younger sister, Susan “Suzy” Grayson Hill lives in Ft. Mitchell. She has two daughters, Avery, 9, and Emery, 7, and is an external consultant to Toyota in Change Management, spending most of her time at the manufacturing headquarters in Kentucky while traveling to California monthly to Toyota’s Sales and Marketing headquarters. A chip off the family block, she is actively involved with the Cincinnati Ballet and has chaired several successful fundraising events, including Club B and the Nutcracker Luncheon, though she prefers a lower public profile.
In the small-world category, Suzy and her brother’s future wife, Nancy, met at a church camp in Irvine as youngsters and became friends. Nancy met Trey “officially” at Suzy’s wedding . They were engaged in the spring of 1999 and married in January 2000. Trey and Nancy have two daughters, Alex, 13, and Kate, 11.
Nancy Humphrey Grayson, a Lexington native, is making her own contributions to the family legacy, lending her considerable talents and energy to numerous community-good organizations. She is making her own reputation as director of strategic initiatives for the Northern Kentucky Education Council.
She is a Leadership Northern Kentucky alumna, serves on the Kentucky Historical Society Executive Committee and chairs the Metropolitan Club membership and marketing committee. She has served on the boards of several organizations, including the Boone County Public Library, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, Family Nurturing Center, Northern Kentucky Montessori Center and Trinity Episcopal Church. She also has been involved with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Kindervelt, Northern Kentucky Children’s Home, The Yearlings and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati Children Prepared for Kindergarten Impact Council.
Nancy Grayson graduated summa cum laude with honors in Political Science from the University of Kentucky, and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Mer Jr. and Susan are more than ready to pass the mantle of the family legacy to their children and grandchildren, although there’s no evidence they are slowing up.
“The future is with Trey and Nancy and Suzy and our four grandgirls, Alex, Kate, Avery and Emery,” Mer Jr. says.
He doesn’t have to add that he thinks it’s in very good hands.
Judy Clabes is editor and publisher of the NKyTribune. Contact her at judy@nkytrib.com.