William A. Conway (April 16, 1910 – March 31, 2006) was a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

messenger boy who rose to CEO of

Garden State National Bank Garden State National Bank ("Garden State") was a mid-size commercial bank located in northern New Jersey that enjoyed success in the increasingly wealthy New Jersey suburbs of New York City during the 1970s. The significant media coverage it receiv ...

("Garden State"), but he is best remembered for his efforts working as an

activist shareholder An activist shareholder is a shareholder who uses an equity stake in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full ta ...

of behalf of minority stockholders of Garden State during the late 1970s. As a dissident member of the board, his independent efforts to block a merger he viewed as unfair to certain minority shareholders is often compared to the shareholder rights efforts undertaken in recent years by certain

hedge funds A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as shor ...

. Conway was born in Newark, but resided for much of his life in

Chatham, New Jersey "The Chathams" is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough, New Jersey, Chatham Borough and Chatham Township, New Jers ...

and

Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United Sta ...

. Conway attended the

Pingry School The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K–5) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, and a Middle (6–8) and Upper School (9–12) campus ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

but did not graduate due to a bout with rheumatic fever that sidelined him for several months. Though Conway never finished high school, he started work as an errand boy on

and later began what turned out to be an illustrious banking career. Moving on to the Hudson County National Bank in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, would have received a larger percentage of cash than the minority shareholders. Originally supported by Warner Communications CEO

Steve Ross (Time Warner CEO) Steven Jay Ross (born Steven Jay Rechnitz; April 5, 1927 – December 20, 1992) was an American businessman and CEO of Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery), Warner Communications, and Kinney National Services, Inc. Ross is also known for p ...

and by Garden State's CEO, Charles A. Agemian, who was also on the board of

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, the transaction was ultimately defeated after Conway waged an independent effort via the

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, regulate, and supervise all nation ...

which ultimately blocked the merger by placing conditions on the merger application that Agemian viewed as unrealistic. Following that failed transaction, Conway staged a successful proxy fight for a seat on the board of directors of Garden State. Garden State ultimately merged in 1980 with Fidelity Union Bancorporation of Newark (which later became part of

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asse ...

). He died on March 31, 2006, aged 95.

References

1910 births 2006 deaths American bankers Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey People from Summit, New Jersey Pingry School alumni {{US-business-bio-1910s-stub 20th-century American businesspeople