John P. LaWare (February 20, 1928 – December 13, 2004) was an American banker who served as a member of the

Federal Reserve Board of Governors The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mon ...

from 1988 to 1995.

Early life and education

LaWare was a native of

Columbus, Wisconsin Columbus is a city in Columbia (mostly) and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,540 at the 2020 census. All of this population resided in the Columbia County portion of the city. Columbu ...

. He was born on February 20, 1928. After receiving a B.A. in biology from Harvard College in 1950, he earned a M.A. in political science from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1951, after whioch he was in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Banking career

In 1953, LaWare joined

Chemical Bank Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

, where he worked for 25 years, rising to senior vice president of marketing. In 1978, he joined

Shawmut Bank Shawmut, according to 19th-century scholarship, is a term derived from the Algonquian word ''Mashauwomuk'' referring to the region of present-day Boston, Massachusetts.Forsford, Eben Norton, ''The Indian names of Boston, and their meaning''Univer ...

in Boston, Massachusetts, as president. Two years later, he became chairman and CEO of both Shawmut Bank in Boston and its holding company, Shawmut Corporation. During his time at Shawmut, he was chairman of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, chairman of the Massachusetts Bankers Association and Children's Hospital in Boston. He was also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Federal Reserve

President Reagan nominated LaWare to the Federal Reserve Board in 1988. In spite of the fact that LaWare was a Democrat, Senator

William Proxmire Edward William Proxmire (November 11, 1915 – December 15, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. He holds the record for being the longest-servi ...

(Democrat, Wisconsin) initially opposed his nomination, but eventually he was confirmed by the Senate. He was on the Federal Reserve Board until 1995.

Honors

LaWare received honorary doctors' degrees from

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

and

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

. He was also honored as a Distinguished Citizen by the Boy Scouts of America, the Minuteman Council and the College of Business of Northeastern University. He died in 2004.

References

1928 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Federal Reserve System governors Harvard University alumni Law and economics scholars University of Pennsylvania alumni Reagan administration personnel George H. W. Bush administration personnel Clinton administration personnel {{US-business-bio-1920s-stub