PASSINGS: Herbert Allison Jr.

Herbert Allison Jr.

Headed Fannie Mae, U.S. bank rescue program

Herbert Allison Jr., 69, a former head of the U.S. government’s bank rescue program and chief executive of Fannie Mae after it was taken over by the government, died Sunday at his home in Westport, Conn., of a possible heart attack, his family told Bloomberg News.

Allison spent much of his career at Merrill Lynch, rising to chief operating officer and president by 1995, and later served as chairman, president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, the investment firm.

After President George W. Bush’s administration took over the mortgage giant Fannie Mae in 2008, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked Allison to run it. The next year, President Obama selected Allison to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Herbert Monroe Allison Jr. was born Aug. 2, 1943, in Pittsburgh. His father was an FBI agent.

Allison graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Yale University in 1965. He spent four years in the Navy, serving a tour in Vietnam, and earned an MBA from Stanford University in 1971. He joined Merrill Lynch out of business school.

-- Los Angels Times staff and wire reportsnews.obits@latimes.com