L William Seidman

Mr. Seidman worked for Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but it was his tenure as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 1985 to 1991 that defined his career. He was appointed the first chairman of the Resolution Trust Corporation, an entity created in 1989 to partly recoup taxpayer losses from the savings and loan crisis. The entity liquidated bad loans, junk bonds and failed real estate ventures left behind by defunct financial institutions. Despite his relentless trumpeting of bad news, Mr. Seidman — a Republican appointed by President Reagan in 1985 — was warmly received by legislators on both sides of the aisle. Lewis William Seidman (pronounced SEED-man) was born April 29, 1921, in East Grand Rapids, Mich., the son of Frank E. Seidman, an immigrant from Russia who became wealthy as a founder of Seidman & Seidman, an accounting firm that specialized in audits and taxes. His mother, the former Ester Lubetsky, was a Michigan native of Lithuanian descent. Mr. Seidman graduated from Dartmouth College in 1943 with a B.A. in economics and joined the Navy. He served as an ensign in the Pacific during World War II, earning a Bronze Star and 11 battle stars. He then earned a law degree from Harvard and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. Mr. Seidman left Washington in 1977 to become vice chairman and chief financial officer of the Phelps Dodge Corporation. In 1982, he became dean of the business school at Arizona State University in Tempe, where he remained until 1985. In addition to his son, Tom, of Los Angeles, Mr. Seidman is survived by his wife, Sally, the former Sarah Marshall Berry; five daughters, Tracy, of Wagon Mound, N.M.; Sarah, of Middlesex, Vt.; Carrie of Albuquerque, N.M.; Meg Williams of Red Lodge, Mont.; and Robin Volock of Corrales, N.M.; 11 grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.