TELLURIDE – After more than 45 years in the business, local banker Dick Rodgers is hanging up his hat.

Rodgers will soon retire from his post as president of Mountain Village’s Wells Fargo bank, a position he has held for the last 18 years.

He and wife Linda will head to Montana, where their only plans are to spend time with their grandkids and “relax a bit.”

Rodgers joined the company following a merger in 1990 between Norwest (a Wells Fargo predecessor) and Mountain Bank. Prior to that, he served as president of Commercial Bank in Leadville, Colo., and senior vice president at City National Bank in Norman, Okla.

Rodgers came to Telluride in the late 90s, after nearly a decade of commuting between Eagle and Telluride, where wife Linda worked for the Telluride Ski and Golf Co. (Linda retired from Telski two years ago.) Rodgers then opened a bank branch in the burgeoning Mountain Village.

Over the last 10 years, Rodgers helped establish the Mountain Village Merchant’s Association and sat on the boards of the Telluride Foundation, Ah Haa School and the San Miguel Resource Center. Yet his number one job was making sure that his customers at Wells Fargo felt welcomed and appreciated at their community bank.

“I started in banking in college, and although the business sure has changed since then, as far as I’m concerned the philosophy is the same now as it was back then: Give top-notch service to your customers, and they’ll be loyal to you,” Rodgers said, adding that the hardest part of leaving the profession will be saying goodbye to his clients.

"Dick is among the finest community bankers, and to walk down the street with him in Telluride is an experience that proves it," said Dean Massey, Wells Fargo Regional President for western Colorado. "Dick knows what to do and what not to do to help our customers, our team and our company. We're going to miss him greatly."

Greg Majors, Wells Fargo Community Banking President for the Frontier Five region, said of Rodgers: "He's an outstanding leader, mentor and friend. We'll all miss his energy and enthusiasm, and I want to thank Dick and wish him all the best."

Replacing Rodgers as president of Wells Fargo in Mountain Village is Chris Cox, an Aspen-area native whose experience ranges from working in New York’s financial district to time in the Peace Corps.

“I’m turning it over to a good guy who should do well for our community,” Rodgers said of Cox.

The public is invited to attend a send-off party/open house reception for Rodgers from 3-6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 2 at Wells Fargo's Mountain Village location at 620 Mountain Village Blvd.