Richard Parsons

Richard Dean Parsons was born on 4 April 1948 in Brooklyn, one of five children, and was raised in South Ozone Park in Queens. He started college at 16 and went on to earn a law degree, beginning his career in New York state politics before moving into business.

Parsons worked in the circle of the Rockefeller family, including as an aide when Nelson Rockefeller became Vice President, and a Rockefeller associate later recruited him into banking. In 1988 he became chief operating officer of the Dime Savings Bank of New York, and he went on to become its chairman and chief executive, earning a reputation as a leader who could turn troubled institutions around.

Parsons joined the Time Warner board in 1991 on the recommendation of Laurance Rockefeller and became the company's president in 1995. After the disastrous 2001 merger with the internet company AOL, which valued the combined business at around $165 billion, he became chief executive in 2002 and chairman in 2003, removing AOL from the company's name and cutting its roughly $30 billion debt to about $16.8 billion.

He stepped down as chief executive in 2007 and as chairman in 2008, then in February 2009 became chairman of Citigroup, where he helped steer the bank back to profit after the 2008 financial crisis, serving until April 2012. Later roles included interim chief executive of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 and interim chairman of CBS in 2018, alongside board seats at firms including Lazard and Estée Lauder.

Parsons was widely admired as a skilled negotiator, a diplomat and a calm crisis manager, and as one of the most prominent Black executives in American corporate life. He retired from his remaining major roles in December 2023 and died in Manhattan on 26 December 2024, aged 76, after living with multiple myeloma.