By Daniel Rose
Richard Dean Parsons (April 4, 1948 – December 26, 2024) was an authentic American hero of colossal stature, an individual whose professional accomplishments were formidable and whose contributions to our national life were even greater as a role model, mentor, and inspiration for countless others.
How does one write objectively and impartially about a dear friend who so brightened my own life and had a prodigious and constructive impact on the lives and careers of countless others ?
I first met Dick in 1975, when he had just become an esteemed partner in the prominent New York law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Dick was considered an authority on New York’s Mitchell-Lama housing finance program, and as sponsor of the Manhattan Plaza project for housing for the performing arts, I welcomed his enthusiastic support. The warm friendship that followed continued unabated to the day of his passing.
Dick Parsons was widely known and admired for his important roles in the leadership of major financial entities such as Time Warner, Citigroup and others, for his Chairing the Boards of the Jazz Foundation of America, the Apollo Theater Foundation, and the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. As Board Chair of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Museum of Modern Art, and his involvement with other cultural institutions, his civic role has been awe-inspiring, as has been his advisory roles in the Michael Bloomberg Mayoral administration and in the Obama Presidential government.
What Dick Parsons will be best remembered for, however, is his temperament, his calm demeanor in times of tension, and his ability to defuse and pacify angry and sometimes apoplectic colleagues. His refusal to get rattled was famous, and when asked how he could maintain his equanimity, he often replied, “Getting upset is not going to get us anywhere.” Keeping cool under pressure earned him the loyalty, respect and cooperation of his admirers.
My final thoughts on this paragon? As Hamlet says of his father, “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”