Former CBS Board Chairman, Time Warner Head Remembered

In September 2018, the post-Les Moonves era at what was then-called CBS Corporation entered another new chapter. Dick Parsons — the former head of Time Warner — was named Interim Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors.

Now, many across the broadcast media industry are paying tribute to Parsons, who died December 26 at the age of 76 in the City of New York.

Parsons’ death is attributed to cancer, Ronald S. Lauder, a member of the Estée Lauder board and one of Parsons’s oldest friends, told The New York Times.

An aide to former Vice President and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Parsons would join the Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler law firm following the election of Jimmy Carter as U.S. President. He’d stay there until 1988, at which time he became President of troubled financial institution Dime. Six years later, he left with a cleaned-up P&L sheet and a merger with Anchor Savings Bank in place; Anchor Bank remains in business today.

Parsons would then take a role as President of Time Warner, and was there when it merged with America Online (AOL). The 2000 deal, which saw AOL agree to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, was “a good idea” to Parsons, he told The New York Times at a later date. But, AOL was found to have exaggerated its advertising revenue, and the transaction was one of the worst of the “dot-bomb” era.

Yet, Parsons helped navigate Time Warner through the carnage created from the deal, including selling Warner Music Group, and having AOL founder Steve Case depart the operation.

In 2007, Parsons said farewell and then took on his next turnaround corporation, Citigroup. He’d spend five years there repairing the Citi brand. In 2014, Parsons would serve as interim CEO of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, after owner Donald Sterling was stripped of his team following an incident involving racist remarks made by the real estate titan. Parsons helped with the transition in ownership of the team to Steve Ballmer, known for his time at Microsoft.

At age 70, Parsons would step in to help CBS get past a situation that saw Moonves feud with National Amusements, Inc., head Shari Redstone; Moonves would then depart amid sexual harassment claims.

“Dick Parsons has a combination of deep industry knowledge and unmatched corporate and board experience,” Candace Beinecke, Chair of CBS’ Nominating and Governance Committee, said at the time. “We are fortunate to have Dick in this leadership role.”

Parsons’ time leading the CBS board would be short-lived however, as he would step down in October 2018 to deal with a diagnosis of blood cancer. Fighting multiple myeloma saw Parsons in the winning side for several years, leading him in 2021 to team with Lauder and Kenneth Lerer to create Equity Alliance, a fund supporting multicultural ventures and those led by women.