Former Citigroup chair Richard Parsons dies

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Richard “Dick” Parsons, an influential US corporate executive who led two troubled companies through their most dire periods, has died.

Parsons died on Thursday according to an announcement from investment bank Lazard, where he had been a board member. The New York Times reported the cause of death was bone cancer, citing Ronald Lauder, the heir to the beauty company Estée Lauder, where Parsons had also served on the board of directors. Parsons, one of America’s highest-ranking Black executives for two decades, was 76.

Parsons took over as chair 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 the chair role shortly after its $300bn bailout from the federal government. Parsons told the Financial Times in 2009 that his background and business connections would be an asset at Citi.

“The influence and the involvement of the taxpayer and regulators over this company is significant,” he said at the time.

Parsons faced the controversial decision about whether to keep Vikram Pandit as Citi chief executive. He ultimately kept Pandit and Citi swung back to profit.

Parsons also fought to keep Citi from being taken over by the federal government. He supported Barack Obama for his White House bid and urged the new president’s administration not to nationalise the country’s ailing banks.

“I was flying air cover as our ground troops got their act together,” Parsons told the FT. “Now it’s time for the ground war to start.” He stepped down from Citi in 2012.

Parsons previously jumped into a firefight in 2002 when he took over Time Warner after its disastrous merger with AOL.

Completed in 2001, the merger came at the height of the internet boom and valued Time Warner at $164bn. But it quickly suffered a series of huge writedowns, including a $100bn charge in 2002.

At Time Warner, Parsons sparred with activist investor Carl Icahn who fought for control of the media giant in 2006.

Before his corporate life, Parsons served in state and federal government as a counsel for former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and as a White House aide for president Gerald Ford.

Parsons was as 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 at National Basketball Association team the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Dick Parsons was a brilliant and transformational leader and a giant of the media industry who led with integrity and never shied away from a challenge,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on Thursday.