Former Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons died today (12/26) in New York at the age of 76 after battling cancer, per The New York Times.

Parsons grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, going on to work in state politics and law.

One of the more prominent African American executives of his time, he ran Dime Savings Bank from 1988 until 1991, when he joined Time Warner. He was named president of the company in 1995.

Parsons later helped untangle Time Warner from a doomed 2001 merger with America Online, which saw it spin off such assets as Warner Music Group and the Atlanta Hawks pro basketball team. After the company's chief, Gerald Levin, stepped down in 2002, he passed the torch to Parsons, who carried it until 2008.

Parsons was chairman of Citigroup from 2009-2012 and briefly served as interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers in the wake of Donald Sterling's removal as team owner.

Parsons was an ardent fan of jazz and chairman of both the Jazz Foundation of America and the Apollo Theater Foundation. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and three children.