Daniel J Callahan

Daniel J. Callahan III, a major figure in Washington banking for 15 years who headed Riggs National Bank and later American Security Bank, died Dec. 30 2016 at his home in Stevensville, Md. He was 83. Mr. Callahan, whose father was a Riggs executive, spent much of his early career with what was then Chase Manhattan, where he became a vice president in New York and in London. He joined Riggs in 1973 and three years later was named president of the Washington-based bank. He became president of the bank’s holding company in 1981. After Washington financier Joe L. Allbritton bought Riggs in 1982, Mr. Callahan was ousted in a management shake-up. He quickly jumped to American Security, then the District’s second-largest bank holding company, as vice chairman. He served as chairman from 1985 to 1991, after which American Security merged its operations with Maryland National Bank to become MNC Financial, and the company’s headquarters moved to Baltimore. Mr. Callahan was chairman of Uslico, an Arlington-based insurance company for military families, from 1991 to 1995. Most recently he was treasurer of the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, one of the region’s largest private foundations. He previously was chairman of the now-defunct Greater Washington Research Center, an urban-policy think tank, and vice chairman of the Atlantic Council, an international-affairs think tank. He was also director emeritus of the Washington-area affiliate of Easter Seals, a nonprofit aid organization for people with disabilities. Daniel Joseph Callahan III was born in Washington on May 7, 1932. He graduated in 1950 from Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Md., and in 1954 from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Mr. Callahan was a director of Washington Gas and its holding company, among other entities, and was a member of private clubs such as the Cosmos Club, the Alfalfa Club and the Alibi Club. Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Colleen Mount Callahan of Stevensville; four children, Carey Callahan of Chestertown, Md., Caren Callahan of Ukiah, Calif., Carolyn Keller of Miami and Colleen Brown of Stevensville; two sisters, Mary Alicia Callahan of Bethesda, Md., and Joanne McClure of Chevy Chase, Md.; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A son, Daniel J. Callahan IV, died in 2010.