Comptroller Dugan Issues Statement on Passing of L. William Seidman

WASHINGTON — Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan issued the following statement today regarding the passing of L. William Seidman:

The OCC joins the nation in mourning the passing of L. William Seidman, the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. While Bill Seidman's career in public service stretches back through the Ford administration, those of us in the banking and regulatory community remember him best for his stewardship of the FDIC. He headed the agency through the thrift and banking crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and his steady leadership helped maintain public confidence in the deposit insurance system. Bill oversaw the establishment of the Resolution Trust Corporation, which handled the resolution of more than 700 failed thrifts with nearly $400 billion in assets, as well as the creation of a new insurance fund for thrift institutions. During this same time, he managed the FDIC's bank insurance fund at a time when banks were failing at a rate of nearly one per day.

I had the great honor of working with Bill, both during my time on the Senate Banking Committee staff and at the Department of Treasury, and I knew him as a man of great integrity, independence, warmth, intelligence, and humor. We will miss him, and his many accomplishments will be remembered for a very, very long time.