Whitehead was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Winifred K. and Eugene Cunningham Whitehead.[2] His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, when he was two years old. While in Montclair he earned his Eagle Scout rank from Troop 12 of Montclair NJ.[3]
Whitehead started his career at Goldman Sachs in New York City as an associate in the investment banking division. He quickly became a partner in the firm. He rose to become chairman over a total of 38 years at the firm and retired in 1984 as co-chairman and co-senior partner.
He had a long association with the Rockefeller family, having held positions at various times with family-created institutions such as Rockefeller University, the Asia Society, where he was chairman emeritus and an honorary life trustee, the Lincoln Center, and the WTC Memorial Foundation. In these organisations, and previously when he was for a time on the family's powerful Trust Committee, overseeing the family fortune and investments of the Rockefeller Group[citation needed], the real estate firm that previously owned and managed Rockefeller Center, he became closely associated with David Rockefeller.
Whitehead was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He was longstanding co-chairman of the Board of the Greater New York Councils, Boy Scouts of America. The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America recognized his service with the Silver Buffalo Award in 2015. He was the Chairman of the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) from July, 2005 into his death in February 2015. He was also an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. [citation needed]
Whitehead was a board member and head of the investment committee of the Getty Trust. He retired from that position in 1996 following a substantial portfolio loss from the use of stock options for a so-called "collar".[12]
In 2004, he received the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award from Synergos.[13]
Whitehead was co-chairman of AMDeC Foundation, a 28-member organization of leaders in biomedical research and technology in New York State. Whitehead, along with Academic Medicine Development Company (AMDeC) President, Dr. Maria K. Mitchell, secured funding and infrastructure support for next-generation research for New York's renowned academic medical centers. In 2006, Whitehead was one of the most notable Republican donors to the campaign of Joe Lieberman during his independent re-election campaign for the United States Senate.[14]
In 2006, John Whitehead joined hands with late actor Paul Newman and Josh Weston, former chairman of ADP, to co-found Safe Water Network, to improve access to safe water to underserved communities around the world.
On November 12, 2008, Whitehead said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit that the U.S. economy faced an economic slump deeper than the Great Depression and that a growing deficit threatened the credit of the country.[15]
In 2011, John C. Whitehead was awarded the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom.[16]
In 2012, Whitehead was awarded the Freedom Prize for the second time.[17] He was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.[18]
Publications
In 2005, Whitehead published a memoir, A Life In Leadership: From D-Day to Ground Zero.[4]
Whitehead married television newswoman Nancy Dickerson in 1989,[19] by which marriage he gained five stepchildren. She died in 1997.[19] Her son, John Dickerson, the writer, is one of his stepchildren. In 2003, Whitehead dedicated the Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Community Service Center for Homeless Youth in Southeast Washington, D.C., with a private donation to Covenant House.[20] Whitehead died on February 7, 2015, of cancer at his New York home, at age 92.[9][21] Earlier marriages to the former Helene Shannon, known as Sandy, and the former Jaan Chartener ended in divorce.[9]
Whitehead was survived by his wife, the former Cynthia Matthews; his three children: Anne, Sarah and J. Gregory Whitehead; two granddaughters; seven stepchildren; and 18 step-grandchildren.[9]
^Roose, Kevin (2014). Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits. London, UK: John Murray (Publishers), An Hachette UK Company. p. 206. ISBN978-1-47361-161-0.
