In Memoriam: Richard D. Parsons, 76
List of Companies He Led Included Dime Bancorp
Richard D. Parsons, who did a stint as President and then CEO of the Dime Bancorp among the many financial and media companies he led and rescued, died of cancer at his Manhattan home on December 26, 2024. He was 76.Dime Bancorp was acquired in 2002 by Washington Mutual, which was purchased in 2008 by JPMorgan Chase.
Parsons was born in Brooklyn and had degrees from the University of Hawaii and Albany Law School.
He would come to have ties with the Rockefeller family, beginning as an aide to then NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller and later becoming chair of the Rockefeller Foundation’s board of trustees.
Parsons became chairman emeritus of the Partnership for New York City,[established by David Rockefeller in 1979. He became an advisory trustee of the family's principal philanthropy, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and he sat with David Rockefeller on the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Parsons was also on the board of the family-created Museum of Modern Art.
He went on to lead Citigroup, AOL Time Warner and CBS.
He was the chairman of the Apollo Theater Foundation, and also served on the boards of Citigroup, the Estee Lauder Companies, Howard University and the American Museum of Natural History. He also co-chaired the Advisory Committee of the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian.
Among his survivors are his wife, the former Laura Ann Bush, and four children.