In a city known for its powerful business leaders, Ben Love towered as one of the most influential. Under his competent management as CEO of Texas Commerce Bancshares in the 1980s, TCB was the only ""Big Five"" Texas bank to survive that decade's collapse of the Texas banking industry. Love's story provides an insightful perspective on the evolution of Texas banks after World War II, their decline, and their subsequent recovery. It also offers a glimpse into the kind of character that creates men of power.