NEW YORK — Richard Rosenberg, who doubled the size of Bank of America in the 1990s as chairman and CEO and started the bank on its path to becoming one of the world's largest consumer banking franchises, died Friday, his family said in a statement. He was 92.
Rosenberg ran the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank from 1990 to 1996, taking over the bank at a time when regulators were allowing the first national banking chains to truly come into existence. Under his tenure, BofA grew to $225 billion in assets at the time and rivaled only Citibank in size when he retired. BofA is now over $3 trillion in assets.
The bank was mostly grown through a series of acquisitions, including the purchase of banks like Continental Illinois, Valley Bank in Nevada and Security Pacific National Bank.
Rosenberg was born April 21, 1930, and graduated from Suffolk University in Boston. He served in the U.S. Navy in various capacities, including during the Korean War.
He began his banking career at Crocker-Anglo Bank and later Wells Fargo, working at Wells for 22 years. He was the executive who came up with the idea of using the stagecoach as part of Wells' branding, which became a hit and is still part of Wells' marketing to this day.
Rosenberg is survived by his wife, two sons and five grandchildren.