Willard Carlisle Butcher (October 25, 1926 – August 25, 2012) was chairman and CEO of

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...

from 1980 to 1991.Chappatta, Brian
"Willard Butcher, Former Chase CEO Who Expanded Bank, Dies at 85"
''Bloomberg'', August 27, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-28.

Early life and education

Born October 25, 1926 in Bronxville, NY, Butcher began his higher education in 1944 at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

in Vermont. Discharged from the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in 1946, he enrolled at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, graduating in 1947 with a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, and as a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Brown,

Pepperdine Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ...

and

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Universities and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Pace University.

Career

Butcher joined Chase National Bank, predecessor to Chase Manhattan, in 1947 and spent his early career in Chase’s

midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

branch system. He later headed Chase’s retail and corporate business for midtown and moved to the international department in 1969, where he headed operations in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, before becoming executive vice president in charge of Chase’s international operations. After a short tenure as Chase’s vice chairman for worldwide planning, expansion and diversification, Butcher was named president and chief operating officer, reporting to

David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...

, then chairman and CEO. Under Rockefeller and Butcher, Chase expanded into more than 50 countries, including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, where American banks hadn’t previously operated. As a result of the expansion, ''The New York Times'' said at the time of Butcher's death Chase was beset by hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from poorly performing loans in developing countries such as Brazil. Butcher was active with the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. ...

, and served for two years as member of President Ronald Reagan’s

Grace Commission The Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (PSSCC), commonly referred to as the Grace Commission, was an investigation requested by United States President Ronald Reagan, authorized in on June 30, 1982. In doing so President Reagan used the now fam ...

. He served on the boards at Celgene Corp., Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., International Paper Corp. and Texaco Inc., and was a board member of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and the New York Zoological Society.

Death

Butcher died of cancer in

Hobe Sound, Florida Hobe Sound is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States, located along Florida's Treasure Coast. The population was 13,163 at the 2020 census, up from 11,521 in 2010. Geography Hobe Sound ...

on August 25, 2012, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Willard C. 1926 births People from Bronxville, New York Brown University alumni Middlebury College alumni 2012 deaths American bank presidents American chief operating officers American chief executives of financial services companies