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Richard “Dick” Parsons, an influential US corporate executive who guided two troubled companies through their worst times, has died.
Parsons died on Thursday, according to reports an announcement from the investment bank Lazard, where he had been a board member. The New York Times reported the cause of death as bone cancer, citing Ronald Lauder, the heir to the beauty company Estée Lauder, where Parsons also served on the board. Parsons, one of America’s highest-ranking black executives for two decades, was 76 years old.
Parsons took over as chairman of Citigroup in February 2009 as the bank was reeling from the 2008 financial crisis. He had been on the board since 1996, but took over as chairman shortly after the federal government’s $300 billion bailout. Pastor told the Financial Times in 2009 that his background and business relationships would be an asset to Citi.
“The influence and involvement of taxpayers and regulators in this company is significant,” he said at the time.
Parsons faced the controversial decision of whether to retain Vikram Pandit City Managing Director. Ultimately, he kept Pandit and Citi returned to profitability.
Parsons also fought to prevent the federal government’s takeover of Citi. He supported Barack Obama in his run for the White House and urged the new president’s administration not to nationalize the country’s ailing banks.
“I was flying air cover while our ground forces assembled,” Parsons said said the FT. “Now is the time for the ground war to begin.” He resigned from Citi in 2012.
Parsons found himself in a firefight back in 2002 when he took over Time Warner after its disastrous merger with AOL.
The merger, completed in 2001, came at the height of the Internet boom and valued Time Warner at $164 billion. But the company quickly suffered a series of huge write-downs, including a $100 billion write-down in 2002.
At Time Warner, Parsons feuded with activist investor Carl Icahn, who fought for control of the media giant in 2006.
Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Parsons served in state and federal government as an adviser to former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and as a White House adviser to President Gerald Ford.
Parsons was a member of Obama’s economic transition team in 2008. He also served on the boards of the Apollo Theater in New York and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
Parsons was also CEO of the National Basketball Association team, the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Dick Parsons was a brilliant and transformative leader and a giant in the media industry who led with integrity and never backed down from a challenge,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday.
