Robert Lindsay, Mayor’s Brother at J.P. Morgan, Dies at 86
February 08, 2012, 1:18 PM ESTBy Laurence Arnold
(Updates with history of brother’s mayoralty in eighth paragraph.)
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Robert V. Lindsay, the brother of a two-term New York City mayor, whose 37-year career at J.P. Morgan & Co. culminated in seven years as House of Morgan president, has died. He was 86.
He died Jan. 20 in the hospice wing of Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to a death notice in the New York Times. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He had resided in Manhattan and Wellington, Florida, and had Parkinson’s disease for about 15 years, according to the death notice.
Known as Rod, Lindsay was the brother of Mayor John V. Lindsay and president from 1980 to 1987 of J.P. Morgan, now part of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and of its main subsidiary, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. He led the firm during some of its final years as a strictly commercial bank, before Wall Street, led by Morgan itself, began winning exemptions to the 1933 Glass- Steagall Act, leading to its repeal in 1999.
Ron Chernow, in his 1990 book, “The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance,” described Lindsay as a “blue-blooded” throwback to Morgan’s roots. “The Morgan feeling of collegiality is the most important thing we’ve got,” Lindsay told Chernow.
In line with the edict of his chairman and chief executive officer, Lewis Preston -- who, according to Chernow, would admonish employees for putting themselves ahead of the firm -- Lindsay largely avoided publicity.
‘Corporate Capital’
He did pose for a Times photographer in January 1968 inside Morgan’s first new domestic branch in 21 years, a Morgan Guaranty Trust location at 299 Park Ave. Lindsay, then a Morgan vice president, told the newspaper that the new branch reflected confidence in New York’s position as the world’s “corporate capital.”
Upon his retirement at the end of 1986, Lindsay was succeeded by Dennis Weatherstone, the U.K.-born executive who went on to become Morgan’s chairman and CEO in 1990. Weatherstone would diversify the firm into a global investment bank by, among other steps, winning approval from the Federal Reserve to underwrite stocks, something that had been prohibited by Glass-Steagall.
Robert Van Cleef Lindsay was born on Jan. 1, 1926, the last of five children of George Nelson Lindsay and the former Florence Eleanor Vliet. His brother John would serve as New York City’s mayor from 1966 through 1973, drawing national attention for his battle to clean up the city, for his good looks, for his shift from Republican to Democrat and for his brief run for president in 1972.
Their father was an investment banker and chairman of American Swiss Corp., a unit of Credit Suisse, according to the Times’s 1995 obituary of the former mayor.
U.S. Merchant Marine
Lindsay graduated from the Episcopal Church-affiliated St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1943, then served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, according to the death notice. He majored in Spanish literature at Yale University, graduating in 1949.
He joined J.P. Morgan after college, rising to vice president in 1960 and senior vice president in 1969, halfway through his brother’s eight years as New York City mayor. He became general manager of Morgan Guaranty’s London office in 1973, returning to New York in 1976 as executive vice president.
He became chairman of the executive committee in 1978 and president in 1980.
Among his other affiliations, he was chairman of the Foreign Policy Association, served 20 years as director of the New York Philharmonic Society and was a member since 1959 of the Westminster Kennel Club.
His wife since 1950, the former Nancy Adams Dalley, died in 2008. Their three children -- daughters Cammy and Tinker, and son Robert -- are among his survivors, according to the death notice.
--With assistance from Michael D. Robbins in New York. Editors: Sylvia Wier, Charles W. Stevens
To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington at larnold4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Charles W. Stevens at cstevens@bloomberg.net
