NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--George L. Davis, a global banker who served with five Citibank and Citicorp CEO’s and who was appointed by the US Government to be CEO of two rescued banks, died March 2nd at the age of 76 in New York City. Prior to his illness, Mr. Davis served as a Director of several philanthropic organizations and companies including: Chairman of the National Stroke Association, The Central Park Conservancy, Lincoln Park Zoological Society and was the former Chairman of the Chicago March Of Dimes, President of the Chicago Banker’s Club and a Director at Sealy Inc, Syscon and Wyndham Foods Inc.
With over 45 years of corporate and investment banking experience, Mr. Davis was an original pioneer of cash flow and credit risk analysis. He began his career in the New England District at Citibank in 1958 rising through the ranks reporting under several CEO’s including James Stillman Rockefeller, George S. Moore, and then Walter B. Wriston to become Chairman of Citicorp (USA) as head of the National Division of Citibank N.A. Mr. Davis moved to Sydney from 1968-1970 where he spearheaded Citibank’s Austral-Asia regional banking strategy. He became Co-Senior Partner of The First National Bank of Chicago and head of the Global Corporate Bank in 1981. He returned to Citicorp to work for CEO John S. Reed as Group Executive, North America, responsible for all corporate and investment banking business in the United States and Canada.
In 1990 he founded Scarborough Partners, Inc. to provide consulting, turnaround services and litigation support to the financial services industry. In 1992, The Federal Reserve appointed Mr. Davis CEO of First American Bankshares in Washington, DC to restructure the organization post the B.C.C.I. ownership issues. In 1994, federal regulators appointed him as Chairman and CEO of Banco de Venezuela International in Miami, Florida to clean up and restore this financial institution to health. More recently he provided litigation support for a number of high profile cases on policy and practice issues.
Mr. Davis was born in Des Moines, Iowa on July 9, 1934 and grew up in Washington D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio. One of 4 children of James Cox Davis, Managing Partner of Squire Saunders and Dempsey, and Elizabeth Linn Davis, he attended the University School in Cleveland where years later he served as a Trustee. Mr. Davis graduated from Yale University, Class of 1956, where he served as Editor-in-chief of the Yale Banner and subsequently received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, Class of 1958. He began his more than five-decade career in financial services in 1958.
Mr. Davis is survived by his beloved wife of 43 years, Mary Graham Davis and his five sons Jim, Elliott, George, Stephen and Tom. He leaves behind 12 grandchildren. His sister Linn Swain predeceased him in 2009 and is survived by his brothers Jim and Clark. A memorial service in celebration of his life will be held in the spring in New York. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the National Stroke Association, 9707 East Easter Lane, Centennial, CO 80112, www.stroke.org.
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