Richard D. Parsons, a longtime banking executive who took over Time Warner during a turbulent time for the communications company and helped Citigroup navigate the financial crisis, died Thursday at age 76.
A prominent black businessman, Parsons also helped the NBA’s Clippers navigate a racism scandal.
Parsons was widely credited with turning around Time Warner after its failed $165 billion merger with AOL, CNN reported. With Parsons as CEO, Time Warner cut its debt roughly in half as it ushered in a new era of sustainable growth.
The New York Times said the cause of death was cancer, citing Ronald Lauder, a longtime friend of Parsons and Estee Lauder’s chairman. Parsons, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, had also served on the board of Estee Lauder, as well as the board of asset management firm Lazard.
He “was more than an iconic leader in Lazard’s history – he was a testament to how wisdom, warmth and unwavering judgment can shape not just companies, but people’s lives,” Lazard said in a statement on its website. .
“When Citigroup faced its darkest hour during the financial crisis, he stepped forward as Chairman despite the enormous challenges ahead, simply saying, ‘You can’t abandon your troops when the going gets tough,'” Lazard said. .
Citigroup, in a statement, said: “Dick applied his legendary leadership skills during an incredibly challenging time for our company, leaving Citi better than he found it.”
In 2014, when the NBA permanently suspended Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racist comments, the basketball league installed Parsons as the Clippers’ interim CEO.
“At a time of difficulty and uncertainty for the Los Angeles Clippers, Dick stepped in to provide the kind of steady and reassuring leadership that defined his remarkable career in business and public service,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement Thursday. .
The Times noted that Parsons was often the only black executive in a boardroom and spoke out on social issues, including after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
He is best remembered as a problem solver, handling corporate emergencies like the losses at Dime Bancorp during the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, the Times reported.
Lazard also noted his service as chairman of the Apollo Theater and the Jazz Foundation of America, and his positions on the boards of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. City.
He is survived by his wife, Laura, with whom he had three children, the Times reported.
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