William M. Ellinghaus

William Maurice Ellinghaus (April 19, 1922 – January 4, 2022) was an American business executive who had served as the president and chief operating officer of the American multinational company AT&T. He was the president of the company during its breakup in the 1980s as a settlement to a United States Department of Justice led antitrust case United States v. AT&T. He also served in New York's Emergency Financial Control Board in the 1970s helping the city through a fiscal crisis and preventing a default.

Early life Ellinghaus was born on April 19, 1922, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Medora (née Watkins) and N. Andrew Ellinghaus. He was the second of three siblings. His father worked with the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company. Ellinghaus grew up in Baltimore and studied at the Forest Park High School and graduated from the school in 1940. He served in the United States Navy as a reserve sonarman between 1943 and 1945. After a career spanning 44 years, he retired in 1984. During his time at the company he was known as a 'trouble-shooter' resolving among other events, a New York telephone workers' strike in 1971 that brought installation works to a standstill for many weeks, restoration of service after a major fire at the company's switching center in Manhattan, and various rate negotiations with the state of New York. Along with others including American investment banker Felix Rohatyn, he was drafted by the then governor Hugh Carey to help rescue New York through a fiscal crisis. Ellinghaus was also the head of the National Arts Stabilization Fund which provided grants to various arts groups.

Personal life Ellinghaus married his high school classmate Erlaine (née Dietrich) in 1942. They had eight children and were married until her death in 2008. He then married Ruth Kelly Miller in 2010. Ellinghaus died at his home in Bronxville, New York, on January 4, 2022, at the age of 99.