BofA Vice Chairman, Global Wealth Head Laughlin Dies at 63

The former chief risk officer worked with CEO Brian Moynihan at FleetBoston Financial.

A Bank of America office (Photo: AP)

Bank of America Corp. said Terry Laughlin, vice chairman and head of global wealth and investment management, has died. He was 63.

Laughlin, who ran the bank’s $2.8 trillion wealth-management business, formerly served as its chief risk officer, the bank said in a statement Friday. Larry Di Rita, a spokesman for Bank of America, declined to comment on the cause of death or succession plans.

In 2011, Laughlin was tapped to head the bank’s Legacy Asset Servicing unit, which was created to manage foreclosures and soured loans. Laughlin was previously chief executive officer of OneWest Bank, the successor to IndyMac Bank, which was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2008.

“Terry was instrumental in helping our company recover from the crisis,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in the statement. “Terry was a builder and a problem solver, and one of the finest individuals I’ve had the privilege to know.”

Laughlin recently helped expand Bank of America’s presence in Pittsburgh, Moynihan said. The two executives worked together at FleetBoston Financial before its 2004 purchase by Bank of America.

“His leadership on global wealth and investment management, helping to build a consolidated banking and wealth-management business, is without a peer in our industry,” Moynihan said.

The division includes U.S. Trust, which is run by Katy Knox, and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, headed by Andy Sieg.

Laughlin had an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and served on the university’s board of trustees for 11 years.

“Our hearts are broken,” University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in a statement. “We are exceptionally proud of the life that Terry lived and the example he set. He was a giant in the investment world, a leader in our community and a devoted friend and generous partner of the university.”

Laughlin also had a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and served on the boards of the Urban Institute and the Brooklyn Museum.