Jay S. Fishman

Jay Steven Fishman (November 4, 1952 – August 19, 2016) served as chairman and chief executive officer of The Travelers Companies for 11 years prior to stepping down in December 2015, following a diagnosis of ALS. He was employed as the executive chairman of the board of Travelers from December 2015 until his death in August 2016.

Education Fishman was born in New York City in 1952. He received a master's degree in accounting from the Wharton School of Business and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Career From 1989 to October 2001, Fishman held several key executive posts at Commercial Credit Corp., Primerica, Travelers, and Citigroup.

Fishman has served as chairman and CEO of TRV since a merger between The St. Paul Companies, Inc. (where Fishman had been chairman, CEO, and president) and Travelers Companies (then-CEO Robert I. Lipp

Fishman served at the University of Pennsylvania, as a member of the board of trustees, the board of overseers of the Graduate School of Education, and the industry advisory board of the Financial Institutions Center for The Wharton School. He also served on the board of directors of the National Academy Foundation. He was an honored member of the Advisory Committee of the Jazz Foundation of America.

In June 2012, Fishman was named chairman of the board of directors of New York City Ballet. He serves on the board of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He is a trustee of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a director of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

On August 4, 2015, Fishman announced he was stepping down as CEO due to his battle with the progressive neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He died on August 19, 2016, in New Jersey.

Personal Fishman was married to Randy Lee Chapman in 1976. They had two sons and three grandchildren, and Fishman had a sister, surviving at the time of his death. His wife also survived him.