Richard D. Parsons held senior positions in law, banking and media, and became one of the best-known Black executives in American business. In a 2008 oral history, he described a career that had not followed a fixed childhood plan: law, government service and business leadership arrived through successive opportunities and relationships.
Parsons was born in 1948 and grew up in New York. He studied at the University of Hawaii and earned a law degree from Albany Law School. His early work included advising Nelson Rockefeller and serving in Gerald Ford's White House. He later became managing partner at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler and led Dime Bancorp before joining Time Warner as president in 1995.
Time Warner's merger with America Online in 2001 joined two very different companies, and Parsons was already a senior executive when it happened. As co-chief operating officer, he shared leadership responsibilities with Robert Pittman. He became chief executive in 2002 and chairman in 2003. In his oral history, he described the work of getting employees from the predecessor companies to operate as one after losses and mutual blame, and said he wanted further progress in preparing and supporting employees.
Citigroup appointed him chairman effective February 23, 2009, succeeding Win Bischoff. The company's proxy statement distinguished the independent chairman from executive management and recorded Parsons's previous service as lead director. He later served as interim chief executive of the Los Angeles Clippers, and his commitments included leadership roles at the Apollo Theater and Jazz Foundation of America.
Parsons died on December 26, 2024.
