David Herman Komansky (April 27, 1939 – September 27, 2021) was the former chairman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Merrill Lynch & Company.

Career

Komansky was born in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

, on April 27, 1939, and grew up in a family of

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

immigrants and

Irish Catholics Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

. He joined the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

and then attended the University of Miami School of Business at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in 1965. Komansky joined Merrill Lynch in 1968 as a broker. He became a regional director in 1981 and an executive vice president in 1990. Komansky served as a director and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch from December 1996 to December 2002, and as a director, president and chief operating officer of the firm from January 1995 to December 1996. Komansky retired as chairman from Merrill Lynch in July 2003. Among many professional affiliations, he served as a director of

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a Enterprise risk management, risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackR ...

and as a member of the international advisory board of the British American Business Council. He was also a member of the board of directors of London-based

WPP plc WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

, a business conglomerate. Komansky was appointed to the board of trustees of

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New Y ...

in New York City in 2001.

Philanthropy

In July 2005, Komansky established the Phyllis and David Komansky Center for Children's Health at

Weill Cornell Medical Center Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University. ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to make medical care more accessible, advanced, and supportive of the needs of young patients and their families.

Personal life

He was married and has two daughters, Jennifer and Elyssa.

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Komansky, David 1939 births 2021 deaths Merrill (company) people People from Mount Vernon, New York University of Miami Business School alumni American chief executives of financial services companies American people of Irish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent