Charles de Bretteville; Banker and Executive

MONTEREY, Calif. — Charles de Bretteville, former head of California’s oldest bank and the Spreckels beet sugar company, died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 79.

De Bretteville died at Monterey Hospital.

De Bretteville took over Spreckels in the late 1940s, when the company was producing more sugar from beets than any other self-contained plant in the world.

In 1962, while still the head of Spreckels, De Bretteville became the head of the state’s oldest bank, the Bank of California.

He stepped down from the bank post in 1976, three years after Edmond Baron de Rothschild gained control of the bank.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, De Bretteville served as a member of several boards of directors, including Safeway food stores, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Ridder Publications before it merged to become Knight-Ridder Inc.

In 1975, while a board member of PG & E, De Bretteville’s name was found on a “hit list” belonging to the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnaped Patty Hearst.

His home in Woodside was bombed the same year and police found the letters NWLF painted on the outside of the home. Investigators identified the acronym as standing for the New World Liberation Front. Police said there was no connection between the SLA and the NWLF.

De Bretteville earned his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University and later did graduate work at the Harvard Business School.

He served on the Bunker Hill as a lieutenant in World War II.

De Bretteville is survived by his wife of 54 years, Frances Mein, two daughters, two sons and eight grandchildren.