Richard Parsons, one of America’s most prominent black executives who held senior positions at Time Warner and Citigroup, died Thursday, announced financial services company Lazard, where Parsons was a longtime board member. ‘administration. He was 76 years old.
“Dick was the leader that other leaders looked to for guidance and firm, sure support during their most important moments,” Lazard said in a statement.
Parsons, who died at his Manhattan home, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and cited “unforeseen complications” from the disease for cutting back on his work a few years later.
The NBA, where Parsons was Interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, was among the organizations offering condolences.
“Dick Parsons was a brilliant, transformative leader and a giant of the media industry who led with integrity and never backed down from challenges,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
Parsons’ friend Ronald Lauder told The New York Times that the cause of death was cancer. Parsons resigned Dec. 3 from the board of directors of Lazard and Lauder’s company, Estée Lauder, citing health reasons. He was on the board of directors of Estée Lauder for 25 years.
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Parsons, a Brooklyn native who began college at age 16, was named chairman of Citigroup in 2009, a month after leaving Time Warner Inc., where he helped restore the company’s stature after its much-maligned acquisition by the Internet service provider America Online Inc.
It allowed Citigroup to return to profit after the financial turmoil caused by the subprime mortgage crisis, which shook the economy in 2007 and 2008.
Parsons was appointed interim president of the CBS board of directors in September 2018, but resigned a month later because of illness.
Parsons said in a statement at the time that he was already suffering from multiple myeloma when he joined the board, but “unforeseen complications created additional new challenges.” He said his doctors advised him to reduce his commitments to ensure his recovery.
“Dick’s career embodies the finest traditions of American business leadership,” Lazard said in a statement. The company, of which Parsons was a board member from 2012 until this month, praised his “undoubted intelligence and irresistible warmth.”
“Dick was more than an iconic leader in Lazard’s history: he was a testament to how wisdom, warmth and unwavering judgment could shape not only businesses, but people’s lives,” the company said. . “His legacy lives on through the countless leaders he advised, the institutions he renovated, and the doors he opened for others.”
Parsons was known as a skilled negotiator, diplomat and crisis manager.
Although he worked with Time Warner through its difficulties with AOL, he gained the company’s respect and rebuilt its relationship with Wall Street. He streamlined Time Warner’s structure, reduced debt and sold Warner Music Group and a book publishing division.
He also fended off activist investor Carl Icahn’s challenge in 2006 to break up the company and helped Time Warner reach settlements with investors and regulators over AOL’s questionable accounting practices.
Parsons joined Time Warner as chairman in 1995 after serving as chairman and CEO of Dime Bancorp Inc., one of the largest U.S. savings institutions.
In 2001, after AOL used its fortune as the leading Internet service provider in the United States to buy Time Warner for $106 billion in stock, Parsons became co-chief operating officer with the executive of ‘AOL, Robert Pittman. In this role, he was responsible for the company’s content businesses, including the motion picture and recorded music studios.
He became CEO in 2002 with the retirement of Gerald Levin, one of the main architects of that merger. Parsons was named chairman of Time Warner the following year, replacing AOL founder Steve Case, who had also championed the consolidation.
The newly created company’s Internet division quickly became a drag on Time Warner. The promised synergies between traditional and new media never materialized. AOL began seeing a reduction in subscribers in 2002, as Americans replaced dial-up connections with broadband connections provided by cable television and telephone companies.
Parsons stepped down as CEO in 2007 and chairman in 2008. A year later, AOL split from Time Warner and began operating as a separate company, after years of struggling to reinvent itself as as an advertising and content driven company. Time Warner is now owned by AT&T Inc.
A board member of Citigroup and its predecessor, Citibank, since 1996, Parsons was named chairman in 2009, during a time of turmoil for the financial institution. Citigroup has suffered five straight quarters of losses and received $45 billion in government aid. Its board of directors had been criticized for allowing the bank to invest so much in the risky real estate market.
Citigroup returned to profit under Parsons starting in 2010 and will not have a quarterly loss again until the fourth quarter of 2017. Parsons retired from that job in 2012.
In 2014, he became interim CEO of the Clippers until becoming CEO of Microsoft. Steve Ballmer took over later that year.
Parsons, a Republican, previously worked as an attorney for Nelson Rockefeller, the former Republican governor of New York, and in Gerald Ford’s White House. These first stays gave him a foundation in politics and negotiations. He also served as an economic advisor to President Barack Obama’s transition team.
Parsons, who loved jazz and co-owned a Harlem jazz club, also served as president of the Apollo Theater and the Jazz Foundation of America. He also served 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.
Parsons played basketball at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received his law degree from Albany Law School in 1971. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and their family.
