William "Bill" Seidman 1921-2009
Bill Seidman was head of the FDIC during the Savings and Loan crisis in the late 1980's and early 1990's and worked with Congress to create the Resolution Trust Corp. to solve the mess. Most recently, he was the chief commentator for CNBC.
Bloomberg reports: William Seidman, Who Led Cleanup of S&L Crisis, Dies
An interesting tidbit about the lessons learned from his memoir published in 1993:
“Instruct regulators to look for the newest fad in the industry and examine it with great care. The next mistake will be a new way to make a loan that will not be repaid.” (emphasis added)
Subprime anyone?
And regulation or oversight ... snoozing.
He will be missed. My deepest condolences to family and friends.