Industry icon and former ELFA Chair Bob Stubbs passed away on January 18, 2020 at home in New Jersey.

Stubbs had a distinguished career in the equipment finance industry. In 1968, he founded TriContinental Leasing Company and developed TriCon from a small local leasing company to a major national financial institution, which became one of most successful and influential companies of the period.

In 1984, Stubbs sold the TriCon to Bell Atlantic. Shortly thereafter, the company changed its name to Bell Atlantic TriCon. From 1986 until his retirement in 1993, Stubbs served as president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic Capital Corporation, the financial services organization of Bell Atlantic Corporation.

Stubbs was a long-time active member and committee participant of ELFA, and he and his wife Rosie participated in many association activities. Stubbs served on the association’s board of directors and was elected Chairman in 1989, serving from 1989 to 1991.

In 2011, in celebration of ELFA’s 50th anniversary, Stubbs reflected on the value of ELFA and the association’s Annual Convention, saying, “My wife Rosie and I attended our first convention in 1970, in Puerto Rico. We have attended every convention since then, never missing one (40-plus conventions in a row). It became an important part of our lives as it not only kept us in touch with all of our convention friends, it also was a very important part of my education in the industry.”

Stubbs was an inaugural inductee into the Equipment Finance Hall of Fame in 2014.