NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that former President and Chief Executive Officer, E. Gerald (Jerry) Corrigan, died on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. He was 80.
Mr. Corrigan served nearly 25 years in the Federal Reserve System. He became President and CEO of the New York Fed on January 1, 1985. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Corrigan was President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for four and a half years.
His career at the New York Fed began in 1968 when he joined the domestic research division as an economist, after teaching at Fordham University in 1967-68. From 1968 to 1979 he served in a variety of staff and official positions including vice president for planning and domestic open market operations.
In August 1979, he went on leave from the Bank to become special assistant to Federal Reserve Board Chair Paul Volcker in Washington, DC, working closely with him to combat high levels of inflation during the period of the Great Inflation. While there, he was named Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision by the governors of the central banks of the Group of Ten countries. The Committee provides a forum for regular cooperation among its member countries on banking supervisory matters.
During his tenure at the New York Fed, Mr. Corrigan led the Bank and System through multiple periods of financial market stress in the 1980s, including Silver Thursday in 1980 and Black Monday in 1987. He also played a critical role in steering the Federal Reserve through the fall of investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1989 and the demise of Salomon Brothers.
Mr. Corrigan was instrumental in establishing, and also served as co-chairman of, the Russian-American Banking Forum. This organization was set up in June 1992 to assist Russia in the development of its banking and financial system infrastructure. After stepping down as President of the New York Fed on July 19, 1993, Mr. Corrigan was subsequently appointed by President Bill Clinton to head the newly established Russian-American Enterprise Fund.
In 1994, Mr. Corrigan joined Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director and became Partner in 1996. He held a number of roles at the firm, including in its Executive Office and across firm-wide committees. He was also a non-executive chairman of the Goldman Sachs banks in the United States and the United Kingdom. He retired from the firm in 2016.
Mr. Corrigan was born in June 1941 in Waterbury, Connecticut. He earned a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in economics from Fairfield University in Connecticut in 1963. He received a Master of Arts degree in 1965 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1971, both in economics, from Fordham University.
Mr. Corrigan is survived by his wife, Cathy Minehan, his sister, his two daughters and his wife's son and daughter, their families, including five grandchildren.
