Great American Chairman Gordon Luce Will Retire

Gordon C. Luce, chairman and chief executive of Great American Bank, will retire this year once the embattled thrift finds a replacement.

In making the announcement at Great American’s annual shareholders meeting, Luce acknowledged reports circulating for weeks that he planned on leaving the San Diego-based firm this year. While the savings and loan has no mandatory retirement age, Luce will turn 65 in November. He has been Great American’s chief executive since 1969 and chairman since 1979.

An executive search committee is looking for a new chief executive, Luce told shareholders. As reported earlier, Luce confirmed that James Cirona, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, had been offered the job. But Cirona removed himself from consideration after he and the S&L;’s board of directors failed to agree to terms.

In his 21 years at Great American, Luce built the thrift from an obscure four-branch institution then known as San Diego Federal to the nation’s eighth-largest S&L.;