Richard D Parsons

Richard D. Parsons, whose humane approach to business made him a serial troubleshooter at distressed companies including Time Warner, CBS and Citigroup and a sought-after adviser at the highest echelons of American industry, died on Thursday December 26 2024 at his home in Manhattan. He was 76. Parsons was a jazz-loving oenophile who served on the board of the Apollo Theater and owned a Tuscan winery, rose to the top of the business world in an era when he was frequently the only Black executive in the boardroom. A self-described “Rockefeller Republican.” He had been an aide to Nelson A. Rockefeller, the former vice president and New York governor, The cause was cancer, said Ronald S. Lauder, a member of the Estée Lauder board and one of Mr. Parsons’s oldest friends. His wife Laura survives him. His survivors also include their three children, Gregory, Leslie and Rebecca. After he stepped down from Citigroup in 2012, Parsons joined Providence Equity Partners, a large private-equity firm with ties to the media business, as an adviser. And in 2014, as the National Basketball Association was reeling from the racist remarks made by Don Sterling, the owner of the Clippers, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, tapped Mr. Parsons to be the team’s interim chief executive. * Chairman, Time Warner Inc. -- 2003 to present. * Chief Executive Officer -- 2002 to 2007. * Co-Chief Operating Officer -- 2001 to 2002. * Director, Time Warner Inc. (or predecessor) -- 1991 to present. * Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dime Savings Bank of New York -- 1991 to 1995. * President and Chief Operating Officer -- 1988 to 1990. * Associate, Partner and Managing Partner, Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler -- 1977 to 1988. * General Counsel and Associate Director, Domestic Council, White House -- 1975 to 1977. * Deputy Counsel to the Vice President, Office of the Vice President of the United States -- 1975. * Assistant and First Assistant Counsel to the Governor, State of New York -- 1971 to 1974. * Director of Citigroup (or predecessor) since 1996. * Citibank, N.A. director -- 1996 to 1998. * Other Directorships: The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. * Other Activities: Apollo Theatre Foundation (Chairman), Museum of Modern Art (Trustee), Howard University (Trustee), American Museum of Natural History (Trustee), New York City Partnership (member), Smithsonian Institute of African American History and Culture (Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board), and New York City Commission for Economic Opportunity (member).