J.P. Morgan’s Preston to Leave as Chairman

J. P. Morgan & Co. said Wednesday that its chairman, Lewis T. Preston, was stepping down two years before retirement and would be succeeded by the bank-holding company’s current president.

J. P. Morgan, which owns Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. bank, said in a statement in New York that Dennis Weatherstone, the current president, will take over as chairman and chief executive Jan. 1.

Preston, 63, will serve as chairman of the company’s executive committee starting next year, J. P. Morgan said. Preston was not required to retire until age 65.

“It’s the right point in J. P. Morgan’s evolution to put this new team in place,” he said in a statement. “I thought there should be ample time for the firm to benefit fully from Dennis Weatherstone’s leadership.”

J. P. Morgan said Douglas A. Warner III would succeed Weatherstone as president.

Preston was chairman and chief executive since January, 1980. He joined J. P. Morgan in 1951 and served in various jobs. Weatherstone, 58, joined Guaranty Trust Co., a predecessor of the firm, in 1946 in London and became president in 1978.

Warner has been managing director and head of the firm’s worldwide corporate finance operation since 1987. He has been with the firm for 21 years.