Richard Darman

Richard Darman
January, 1983
28th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office January 25, 1989 – January 20, 1993
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Joseph R. Wright, Jr.
Succeeded by	Leon E. Panetta
United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
In office 1985–1987
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	R.T. McNamar
Succeeded by	M. Peter McPherson
White House Staff Secretary
In office June 17, 1981 – 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Richard G. Hutcheson III
Succeeded by	David L. Chew
Personal details
Born	Richard Gordon Darman (1943-05-10)May 10, 1943 Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 25, 2008(2008-01-25) (aged 64) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	None
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kathleen Emmet Darman ​ ​ (m. 1967;  2008)​
Children	William T. E. Darman Jonathan W. E. Darman C. T. Emmet Darman
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Economist; Businessman; Government administrator

Richard Gordon Darman (May 10, 1943 – January 25, 2008) was an American businessman and government official who served in senior positions during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Life and career

Darman was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, the son of Eleanor F. and Morton H. Darman. His father was a textile mill owner. He attended Harvard University in 1964, and he married to the former Kathleen Emmet on September 1, 1967; they had three sons, William T. E., Jonathan W. E. and C. T. Emmet Darman.

Darman was regarded as provocative and intelligent by Washington insiders, but was criticized by some economists for being too focused on the budget deficit and was sometimes blamed for convincing Bush to renege on his promise of "Read my lips: No new taxes", which is widely believed to have contributed to Bush's defeat in the election of 1992. Darman had previously tried to stop Bush from making the promise during the 1988 campaign.

Prior to serving as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under the first President Bush from 1989 to 1993, Darman held other governmental positions, including: Assistant to the President of the United States and White House Staff Secretary (1981–85); Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (1985–87); and Assistant Secretary of Commerce (1976–77). He also was a member of the faculty of Harvard Kennedy School on three different occasions between 1977 and 2002.

Darman graduated with honors from Harvard College in 1964 and from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1967.

Since May 1, 2003, Darman had been Chairman of the Board of AES Corporation, an electric utility company.

From 1993 until his death in 2008, Darman was a partner and managing director of the Carlyle Group. During that period, Carlyle went from being a small firm with 26 employees to one of the world's largest and most successful private equity firms.

Darman was a trustee of the Loomis Sayles Funds, the IXIS Funds, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He served as Chairman of the Board of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Darman died on January 25, 2008, at the age of 64, following a battle with acute myelogenous leukemia.

References

• Who's Who in America (2007 ed.).

Further reading

• Who's in Control? Polar Politics and the Sensible Center. 1996. ISBN 0-684-81123-5.

External links

• http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/deaths/5487176.html
• http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004147668_darmanobit27.html
• http://www.nndb.com/people/607/000056439/