In Brief: Claire Hoffman, BofA Pioneer, Dead at 92

Claire Giannini Hoffman, daughter of Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini and herself an important figure in banking history, died last Saturday at Seven Oaks, the family home in San Mateo, Calif.

Mrs. Hoffman was 92. She was born in the same year BofA was founded. She spent much of her life carrying on the legacy of her father and his "banking for the people" principles.

She assumed A.P. Giannini's seat on the bank's board in 1949. When her brother, BofA president L.M. Giannini, died in 1952, she became a member of the general executive committee.

Mrs. Hoffman went on to establish a reputation as a pioneering woman in corporate governance and was active in public service.

In 1963 she became the first woman director of Sears, Roebuck and Co. In 1970 President Nixon appointed her to the financial investment advisory panel of Amtrak. She declined an invitation in 1973 to be nominated to the Federal Reserve Board because she did not want to sever her ties to Bank of America.

Mrs. Giannini's husband of 24 years, Clifford Pierson "Biff" Hoffman, an investment banker and former football star at Stanford University, died in 1954. They had no children.

Bank of America said her estate is being distributed through the Claire Giannini Hoffman Foundation to a variety of charitable causes.

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