World Bank President Lewis T. Preston, who led the world's largest lender through a critical post-Cold War period, has died following a battle with cancer.
Preston, who died at his home in Washington on Thursday, was 68.He assumed the presidency of the World Bank in 1991, having served as chairman and chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan and Co.
Preston, who personally guided the bank's developing relationship with a newly free Russia and other former Soviet states, had stepped aside when his illness was diagnosed and had planned to formally retire from the bank at the end of May.
His successor is to be James D. Wolfensohn, who formerly headed the investment banking department at Salomon Brothers Inc., and will continue as chairman of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.