Deaths in Banking
Edward Gilligan, the president
of American Express and heir apparent to the company’s chief
executive, Kenneth Chenault, died on Friday after falling ill during a
flight to New York. He was 55. The cause was believed to be a heart
attack, a company spokesman said. Mr. Gilligan was aboard a corporate
jet with several colleagues returning from a business trip to Tokyo.
Edward P. Gilligan, American Express Executive, Dies at 55
By David Segal
Edward Gilligan, the president of American Express and heir
apparent to the company’s chief executive, Kenneth Chenault,
died on Friday after falling ill during a flight to New
York. He was 55.
The cause was believed to be a heart attack, a company
spokesman said. Mr. Gilligan was aboard a corporate jet with
several colleagues returning from a business trip to Tokyo.
CPR was performed during the flight, which was diverted to
Green Bay, Wis., the spokesman said. Mr. Gilligan was
pronounced dead at a hospital in the area.
Mr. Gilligan was appointed president of American Express,
the world’s largest issuer of credit cards, in 2013,
establishing him as the likely future chief executive. He
oversaw the company’s small business, merchant, global
consumer, network, merchant, risk and banking groups.
He started at American Express 35 years ago as an intern
while earning an undergraduate degree in economics and
management from New York University. He rose steadily
through the company’s ranks, becoming vice president for
business travel and later senior vice president for
commercial card and business travel for the Eastern United
States.
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In 2002 he moved to London, where he headed the company’s
international consumer card division. He returned to the
United States in 2009 and led efforts to integrate American
Express into social media, helping to embed the company’s
offerings on Facebook as well as through tech companies like
Uber.
“Ed loved to talk tech; he loved to talk sports; he was a
great storyteller,” said Michael O’Neill, American Express’s
executive vice president for corporate affairs. “He was the
guy at dinner you wanted to be seated next to.”
Mr. Gilligan’s death comes during a challenging period for
American Express. In February, the company and the big-box
retailer Costco announced that they were unable to agree on
terms to extend a 16-year relationship in which American
Express was the only card Costco accepted. Mr. Chenault said
at the time that the news would affect one-tenth of all
American Express cards, describing it as a financial blow
that would hurt the company’s results for two years.
That same month, a Federal District Court judge in Brooklyn
ruled that American Express had violated antitrust law by
prohibiting retailers from directing consumers to lower-cost
cards. The judge, Nicholas Garaufis, ruled that the
company’s actions “imposed actual, concrete harms on
competition.” The company said it would appeal.
American Express’s statement on Friday did not say how Mr.
Gilligan’s death would affect succession plans at the
company.
Source: NYT Ed Gilligan
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