Harvey L Pitt

Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, died on Tuesday May 30 2023. He was 78. Pitt was appointed to lead the SEC by President George W. Bush in 200 and oversaw the closure of financial markets in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had previously been a staff attorney and general counsel, among other roles, at the agency and received the SEC's award for distinguished service in 1977, a year before leaving the agency. He resigned and left the agency again in 2003, under fire over his appointment of a former FBI chief embroiled in an accounting scandal to run the then-newly created Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The accounting watchdog was created after the failures of WorldCom and Enron to restore investor confidence. Pitt was a graduate of St. John's University School of Law and the City University of New York, according to the SEC's website. He taught at various points at Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, Pitt founded and led consulting and law firm Kalorama Partners in Washington.