NEW YORK — Richard Parsons died Thursday. He was one of the most well-known Black leaders in corporate America and had top jobs at Time Warner and Citigroup. He was 76 years old.
Parsons died at his home in Manhattan. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and cut back on work a few years later because of “unexpected complications” from the disease.
The financial services company Lazard announced that Parsons had died. He had been on the board of directors for a long time. A lot of groups sent their condolences, including the NBA, where Parsons was temporary CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014.
CEO of the NBA, Adam Silver, said, “Dick Parsons was a brilliant and transformative leader and a giant of the media industry who led with integrity and never shied away from a challenge.”
Ronald Lauder, a friend of Parsons’, told the New York Times that cancer was the cause of death. Parsons quit on December 3 from the boards of Lazard and Lauder’s company, Estée Lauder EL -0.11%, saying it was for better health. He had been on the board of Estée Lauder for 25 years.
Parsons was born in Brooklyn and started college when he was sixteen. He was named chairman of Citigroup in 2009, just one month after leaving Time Warner Inc., where he helped repair the company’s reputation after it was bought by America Online Inc., an internet service provider.
After the financial chaos caused by the subprime mortgage crisis, which shook the economy in 2007 and 2008, he led Citigroup C +0.49% back to profit.
Parsons was put on the CBS board in September 2018, but he quit a month later because he was sick.
In a statement at the time, Parsons said that he already had multiple myeloma when he joined the board, but that “unexpected complications have created additional new challenges.” He said that his doctors told him to cut back on his plans so that he could get better.
Lazard said in a statement, “Dick’s long and successful career reflected the best of American business leadership.” He was on the board of this company from 2012 until this month, and they said nice things about his “unmistakable intelligence and his irresistible warmth.”
The company said, “Dick was more than just an important figure in Lazard’s history; he was a living example of how wisdom, warmth, and sound judgment can change not only businesses but also people’s lives.” “He will be remembered by the many leaders he helped, the institutions he restored, and the doors he opened for others.”
He was known for being a good diplomat, mediator, and crisis manager.
He was with Time Warner during its problems with AOL, but he won the company’s respect and helped it get back on good terms with Wall Street. He made Time Warner more efficient, cut down on debt, and sold Warner Music Group and a book publishing business.
In 2006, activist investor Carl Icahn tried to break up the company, but he was able to stop him. He also helped Time Warner make settlements with investors and regulators over AOL’s questionable accounting practices.
Before becoming president of Time Warner, Parsons was chairman and CEO of Dime Bancorp Inc., which was one of the biggest banks in the United States.
As the biggest Internet service provider in the U.S., AOL was able to buy Time Warner for $106 billion in shares in 2001. At that point, Parsons and Robert Pittman became co-chief operating officers of AOL. His job title was “chief content officer,” and he was in charge of the company’s movie theaters and recorded music.
When Gerald Levin retired in 2002, he took over as CEO. Levin was one of the main people who worked on the merger. The next year, Parsons was named chairman of Time Warner, taking over from Steve Case, the founder of AOL, who had also pushed for the merger.
The Internet section of the new company quickly slowed Time Warner down. The expected connections between old and new media never happened. People started switching from dial-up to broadband connections from their phone and cable TV companies in 2002, which led to a drop in AOL users.
In 2007 and 2008, Parsons gave up his jobs as CEO and chairman. The next year, AOL broke away from Time Warner and started doing business as a separate entity. This came after years of struggling to change into a business that focused on content and ads. AT&T Inc. T +0.04% now owns Time Warner.
Since 1996, Parsons has been on the board of both Citigroup and its predecessor, Citibank. He was named head of the bank in 2009, when it was having a lot of problems. Citigroup had lost money for five quarters in a row and got $45 billion in help from the government. People didn’t like that the bank’s board let it put so much money into the risky home market.
Starting in 2010, Citigroup started making money again under Parsons. They wouldn’t have another quarterly loss until the fourth quarter of 2017. It was 2012 when Parsons quit that job.
In 2014, he took over as CEO of the Clippers until Steve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft, took over later that same year.
Parsons is a Republican who has worked as a lawyer for Nelson Rockefeller, who was a Republican governor of New York, and in the White House under Gerald Ford. Those early jobs taught him about politics and how to negotiate. He also worked as an economic advisor for the transition team of President Barack Obama.
Parsons loved jazz and helped run a jazz club in Harlem. He was also Chairman of the Apollo Theater and the Jazz Foundation of America. He was also on the boards of the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Parsons went to the University of Hawaii at Manoa and played basketball there. He then went to Albany Law School and got his law degree in 1971. His wife Laura and their children and grandchildren will miss him.
