Background
Thomas Ignatius Parkinson was born on November 27, 1881 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of John Henry Parkinson and Rose Fleming.
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Thomas Ignatius Parkinson
Edit ProfileEducation
After graduating from high school, Thomas Ignatius Parkinson entered the University of Pennsylvania Law School, from which he received the Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, in 1902.
Career
In 1902 Thomas Ignatius Parkinson began to practice law in Philadelphia. He moved to New York City in 1908 to serve as counsel to the Bureau of Municipal Research for the City of New York, and was admitted to the New York bar the following year. In 1911 Parkinson was appointed director of the Legislative Drafting Research Fund at Columbia University, where he served as professor of legislation from 1917 to 1935. He was acting dean of the Columbia Law School in 1923 -1924. Parkinson's work as a consultant and as professor of legislation drew him into public service. He was committee counsel for legislative committees in New York and other states, helping to draft workmen's compensation and insurance laws, and to revise factory laws on the basis of recommendations of the Wagner Investigating Committee in 1913. Prior to and during World War I, he helped to develop and administer the federal War Risk Insurance Act.
In 1919 - 1920 Parkinson was legislative counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee, which drafted the Transportation Act of 1920. During this era he also served as special assistant to the federal attorney general (1916), as major judge advocate in the War Department (1918 - 1919), and as chairman of the American Bar Association Committee on Legislation. Parkinson joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States as a part-time adviser in 1920 and, in June of that year, was elected a second vice-president of the firm. He was promoted to executive vice-president in 1925 and, beginning in 1926, was acting president during the frequent absences of the incumbent president, William A. Day, who was in poor health. Day resigned as president in 1927, and Parkinson replaced him. He served as president until February 1953, when he became chairman of the board. He retired on February 1954. Parkinson's tenure as president and chairman of the board was marked by both accomplishment and controversy. He engineered the recovery of the Vereinsbank deposit from Germany, the successful handling of significant litigation in Russia, and the liquidation of ill-advised foreign business ventures. He also is credited with providing strong leadership during the Great Depression.
At the same time Parkinson came under attack for allegedly concentrating too much executive power in his own hands and for being unwilling to consult with the board of directors. He also was charged with having placed company advertising through an agency headed by one of his sons. No evidence was produced that the company or its policyholders suffered from his handling of the advertising. It also came out that legal fees were paid by Equitable to the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hope and Hadley, in which another son was a partner. Again no misconduct was proved. The board of directors, under pressure from the New York superintendent of insurance, forced Parkinson into retirement and into severing all official connections with the company. On February 1933 President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt offered Parkinson the post of secretary of the Treasury.
Parkinson apparently feared the consequences of the tinkering with the currency threatened by the New Deal, and he declined Roosevelt's offer. He became, in fact, an outspoken critic of New Deal monetary and fiscal experiments and policies, and was a leading insurance industry spokesman during the trying days of the Temporary National Economic Committee and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of life insurance companies (1938 - 1941). Parkinson died on June 17, 1959 in New York City.
Achievements
Membership
Thomas Ignatius Parkinson was a president (1927-1953) and chairman (1953-1954) of Equitable Life Assurance Society.
Connections
On June 4, 1912, Thomas Ignatius Parkinson married Georgia C. Weed. They had two sons.
