Richard Parsons, who played a key role in Time Warner’s separation from AOL following one of the most infamous takeovers in history, has passed away at the age of 76. Lazard, where he served as a longstanding board member, confirmed his death.
In 2002, Parsons took over as CEO of AOL Time Warner, succeeding Gerald Levin, who stepped down two years after the media conglomerate’s ill-fated $165 billion merger with the emerging internet company. During his tenure as CEO and later as chairman, Parsons orchestrated Time Warner’s recovery by rebranding the corporation without the “AOL” label and reducing the company’s debt from $30 billion to $16.8 billion through the sale of Warner Music and other assets.
In a 2004 interview with The Independent, Parsons acknowledged the challenges faced post-merger, with AOL’s business declining and Warner Music Group facing setbacks along with the music industry as a whole. To strengthen the balance sheet, strategic assets were sold, and new management was brought in.
Parsons retired from Time Warner in 2007. Born on April 4, 1948, in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant area, Parsons grew up in South Ozone Park, Queens, as the middle child among five siblings. He excelled academically, skipping two grades and later attending the University of Hawaii at 16, where he played basketball and met his future wife, Laura Ann Bush.
After graduating, Parsons returned to New York to study at Albany Law School, working part-time as a janitor to fund his education and graduating at the top of his class. His career took off with an internship at the New York state legislature, where he established connections with moderate Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, leading to a role as associate director of President Ford’s domestic policy council.
Following Ford’s defeat, Parsons joined the law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler in 1977, alongside his friend Rudy Giuliani. Parsons later became the head of Dime Bancorp in 1988, steering the struggling institution through a financial crisis and overseeing its merger with Anchor Savings in 1995.
Parsons, a Rockefeller Republican, held conservative fiscal views and liberal social beliefs. He briefly served as chairman of Citigroup in 2009, aiding the bank during the financial crisis, and later assumed the role of interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014. Parsons emphasized that race was not a defining factor in his success.
In his philanthropic endeavors, Parsons was actively involved with various charities, including the Jazz Foundation of America, the Apollo Theater Foundation, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. His contributions extended to the arts, with Parsons and his wife donating 40 artworks to the American Folk Art Museum in July 2021 to commemorate its 60th anniversary.
