One of the most well-known Black leaders in corporate America, Richard Parsons, passed away on Thursday. He was the head of Time Warner and Citigroup. His age was 76.
Parsons, who passed away in his Manhattan residence, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and reduced his workload a few years later due to unexpected consequences from the illness.
Parsons was a longtime board member of the financial services business Lazard, which confirmed his passing.
David Zaslav, the president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, Time Warner’s successor, recalled Parsons as a tough and clever negotiator who always sought to reach an agreement that benefited both parties.
Zaslav referred to him as one of the greatest problem solvers our business has ever seen, saying that everyone who had the opportunity to work with and know him witnessed that unique blend of excellent leadership, integrity, and kindness.
Ronald Lauder, a friend of Parsons, told The New York Times that cancer was the reason of death. Citing health concerns, Parsons resigned from the boards of Lazard and Lauder’s company, Est é Lauder, on December 3. He had spent twenty-five years on the board of Est e Lauder.
A month after leaving Time Warner Inc., where he helped rehabilitate the company’s reputation after its much-maligned acquisition by internet provider America Online Inc., Parsons, a Brooklyn native who began college at the age of 16, was appointed chairman of Citigroup in 2009.
After the subprime mortgage crisis rocked the economy in 2007 and 2008, he led Citigroup back to profitability.
In September 2018, Parsons was appointed to the CBS board, however he resigned a month later due to illness.
When he joined the board, Parsons was already coping with multiple myeloma, but unforeseen complications have caused new problems, he said in a statement at the time. He claimed that in order to assure his recuperation, his doctors had recommended him to reduce his responsibilities.
According to a statement from Lazard, Dick’s remarkable career exemplified the best practices of American corporate leadership. The business, where Parsons served on the board from 2012 until this month, commended his indisputable brilliance and his contagious friendliness.
According to the corporation, Dick was more than simply a legendary figure in Lazard’s history; he was a living example of how kindness, intelligence, and unflinching judgment could influence not only businesses but also people’s lives. His influence endures because of the innumerable leaders he advised, the organizations he revitalized, and the opportunities he provided.
Parsons was renowned for being an adept crisis manager, diplomat, and negotiator.
Despite being with Time Warner during its troubles with AOL, he restored the company’s reputation with Wall Street and gained the company’s respect. He liquidated Warner Music Group and a book publishing branch, reduced debt, and streamlined Time Warner’s organizational structure.
In 2006, he also helped Time Warner reach agreements with investors and regulators over dubious accounting methods at AOL, and he repelled an attempt to dismantle the business by activist investor Carl Icahn.
After serving as chairman and CEO of Dime Bancorp Inc., one of the biggest savings institutions in the United States, Parsons became president of Time Warner in 1995.
Parsons joined AOL executive Robert Pittman as co-chief operating officer in 2001, following AOL’s use of its success as the top Internet access provider in the United States to purchase Time Warner for $106 billion in equity. He oversaw the company’s content operations, which included recorded music and film studios, in that capacity.
When Gerald Levin, one of the main architects of that combination, retired in 2002, he took over as CEO. The next year, Parsons was appointed chairman of Time Warner, succeeding Steve Case, the creator of AOL, who had also pushed for the merger.
Time Warner soon found the recently established company’s Internet branch to be a burden. The anticipated synergies between new and traditional media never happened. As Americans switched from dial-up connections to broadband from cable TV and phone companies, AOL started to lose members in 2002.
Parsons resigned as chairman in 2008 and as CEO in 2007. After years of battling to reimagine itself as an advertising and content-focused corporation, AOL separated from Time Warner a year later and started trading as a distinct entity. AT&T Inc. currently owns Time Warner.
Parsons has been on the boards of Citigroup and its predecessor, Citibank, since 1996. In 2009, during a period of financial instability, he was appointed chairman. After losing money for five consecutive quarters, Citigroup was given $45 billion in government assistance. For permitting the bank to make such large investments in the volatile housing market, its board had come under fire.
Beginning in 2010, Citigroup generated a profit under Parsons, and it wouldn’t have a quarterly deficit until the fourth quarter of 2017. In 2012, Parsons left that position.
He served as the Los Angeles Clippers’ interim CEO in 2014 until Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, took over later that year.
According to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Dick Parsons was a media industry titan who was a bright and transformative leader who always took on a challenge and led with honesty.
Parsons, a Republican, was a lawyer in Gerald Ford’s White House and for former Republican governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller. He gained a foundation in politics and negotiations from those early positions. Additionally, he served as an economic advisor to the transition team of President Barack Obama.
In addition to serving as Chairman of the Apollo Theater and the Jazz Foundation of America, Parsons’ passion for jazz led him to co-own a jazz club in Harlem. Additionally, he served 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 graduated from Albany Law School in 1971 with a law degree and played basketball at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His wife, Laura, and their family survive him.
— The Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak and Anick Jesdanun
The late Associated Press reporter Anick Jesdanun, who passed away in 2020, wrote the most of this obituary.
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