William Donaldson, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), died Tuesday. He was 93.

Donaldson, who was appointed the 27th chair of the agency by President George W. Bush in 2002, was also a member of President Barack Obama’s original Economic Recovery Advisory Board, founding dean of Yale School of Management, and founder of Wall Street investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.

Donaldson succeeded the late Harvey Pitt at the agency, an inaugural Compliance Week columnist who died in May 2023.

Donaldson, an advocate of proxy access, had a “remarkable career in public service, business, and academia,” the current commission said in a statement Thursday.

Despite being appointed by a Republican president in Bush, Donaldson caucused with Democrats to pass new rules.

Commissioner Paul Atkins was a perpetual roadblock for Donaldson’s agenda, notably opposing rules to regulate hedge funds and require mutual fund boards to have independent chairmen.

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