Richard Parsons, one of corporate America’s most prominent Black executives, passed away Thursday at 76. A longtime leader at Time Warner and Citigroup, Parsons was widely admired for his diplomatic leadership and ability to navigate crises.
Parsons died at his Manhattan home after battling multiple myeloma since 2015. Lazard, the financial services company where he served on the board, confirmed his death, while his friend Ronald Lauder told The New York Times the cause was cancer.
In early December, Parsons stepped down from the boards of Lazard and Estée Lauder, citing health reasons. He had been a member of Estée Lauder’s board for 25 years.
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“Dick was an American original, a colossus who straddled the worlds of business, media, culture, and philanthropy,” Lauder said in a statement.
David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, described Parsons as “a great mentor and friend” with a unique combination of “leadership, integrity, and kindness.” He praised Parsons as “one of the great problem solvers this industry has ever seen.”
Born in Brooklyn, Parsons started college at 16 and earned a law degree from Albany Law School in 1971. He gained a reputation as a skilled negotiator and crisis manager while leading major companies through turbulent times.
As CEO of Time Warner from 2002 to 2007, Parsons rebuilt Wall Street’s confidence in the company after its troubled merger with AOL. He streamlined operations, reduced debt, and sold non-core assets like Warner Music Group. Parsons also fended off activist investor Carl Icahn’s push to break up the company and resolved legal issues surrounding AOL’s accounting practices.
At Citigroup, where Parsons became chairman in 2009, he helped guide the bank back to profitability following the global financial crisis. Under his leadership, Citigroup began a streak of profitable quarters that lasted until late 2017. He retired from the role in 2012.
Parsons’ career also included stints as interim CEO of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 and as an economic adviser on President Barack Obama’s transition team. Earlier in his career, he worked as a lawyer for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and in the White House under President Gerald Ford.
A lover of jazz, Parsons co-owned a Harlem jazz club and chaired the Apollo Theater and the Jazz Foundation of America. He also held board positions with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Parsons is survived by his wife, Laura, and their family.
