Dan's Papers - July 27, 2007 - John Kanas Comes Back

I see he's gone again. First he left North Fork Bancorp and now he's resigned from Capital One Financial Corporation. It's John Kanas we're talking about and for a very special North Fork reason.

John K. is 60 years old. He's gotta have at least a couple of decades of hard work ahead of him. He thinks so, too. In a practically-yesterday interview he said, "I'm very anxious to start a new career. I would love to get involved in something small and make it into something big." Can you imagine? John wants to keep on working and he wants to work for change - from small to big.

And that's it. The very reason we want John back at work on the North Fork. Only with one proviso. That he takes all his skills, his work ethic, his ambition, and marches them in the opposite direction. Don't go for the big, John. Aim for the small. It is the big that's messing up life on the North Fork. And the small is so difficult to maintain.

Don't misunderstand me. I want a big hug if I am sad. Or a big tissue if I have to sneeze. And I admit I'd enjoy bigger bucks in the bank. Other than that, small is what the North Fork is all about.

John, we want you, we need you, to help us keep things small. I'm sure that takes as much effort as turning a company of 34 employees (North Fork Bank when you joined it) into a financial giant.

We'll give you some examples of North Fork small stuff and you can take it from there. Please work quickly. This whole darned fork seems to be on steroids.

Here's small for you. Small politeness but so North Fork. On a recent Saturday morning as I attempted a right turn on Main Road in Cutchogue, a string of bicyclists, maybe 25 of them, came riding by. I stopped and waited for them to pass. Each and every helmeted one of them waved a thank you and perhaps a dozen spoke the words. I'm sure I didn't know any of them. But I felt good - as if they were my friends.

And here's a spoonful of North Fork goodness. Wednesday I stopped for ice cream (what else was I to do after a visit to my dentist?) at a favorite Mattituck spot. I planned on a dish of coffee ice cream, pretty routine for me. But I saw a sign for Kahlua ice cream and thought maybe I'd try it. The scooper saw my hesitation and offered a Kahlua sample. She produced a spoonful of the stuff. An expanded ice cream experience is an important part of life, don't you think? Thank you to the young woman whose courteous small favor brought me so much pleasure.

And then there were my strawberries. I was late picking this year. So when I arrived at the picking place, the farmer warned me it would take some time to fill my basket and what's more, the berries left were very small. He was right on both counts. But those small berries were as sweet as any I've ever had. And perhaps more precious for the time it took to pick them.

Those are a few of my small stories, John. There are lots more all over the North Fork. This one's from my husband way back when he was 60, just like you are now, John. In a Riverhead deli, my husband held the door open for a young woman behind him. He got his coffee (probably 40 cents back then) and was searching for change when a young voice piped up, "Here, Sir, it's my treat." Perhaps the generous young woman was in a hurry. I have no idea. But my husband has not forgotten that small thing. Though he did realize the use of the word "sir" spelled the end of an era.

Well, John Kanas, come on back to the North Fork. Lead us not into bigness, but deliver us from enormity. I know just what folks will think when they see you in our Mom and Pop stores, or picking peaches in a North Fork orchard.

They'll think, "Why that's John Kanas, the man who saved small. He's got the biggest heart in town."