Legal personality (also artificial personality, juridical personality, and juristic personality) is the characteristic of a non-living entity regarded by law to have the status of personhood.

A legal person (Latin: persona ficta) (also artificial person, juridical person, juristic person, and body corporate, also commonly called a vehicle) has a legal name and has rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and liabilities under law, just as natural persons (humans) do. The concept of a legal person is a fundamental legal fiction. It is pertinent to the philosophy of law, as it is essential to laws affecting a corporation (corporations law) (the law of business associations).

Legal personality allows one or more natural persons to act as a single entity (a composite person) for legal purposes. In many jurisdictions, legal personality allows that composite to be considered under law separately from its individual members or shareholders. They may sue and be sued, enter contracts, incur debt, and own property. Entities with legal personality may also be subjected to certain legal obligations, such as the payment of taxes. An entity with legal personality may shield its shareholders from personal liability.

The concept of legal personality is not absolute. "Piercing the corporate veil" refers to looking at the individual natural persons acting as agents involved in a corporate action or decision; this may result in a legal decision in which the rights or duties of a corporation are treated as the rights or liabilities of that corporation's shareholders or directors. Generally, legal persons do not have all of the same rights—such as the right to freedom of speech—that natural persons have, although the United States has become an exception in this regard.

The concept of a legal person is now central to Western law in both common-law and civil-law countries, but it is also found in virtually every legal system.^[1]

Examples[link]

Some examples of legal persons include:

• Cooperatives (co-ops), business organization owned and democratically operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit
• Corporations are by definition legal persons. A corporation sole is a corporation constituted by a single member, such as The Crown in the Commonwealth realms. A corporation aggregate is a corporation constituted by more than one member.
  • Municipal corporations (municipalities) are "creatures of statute." Other organizations may be created by statute as legal persons, including European economic interest groupings (EEIGs).
• Companies, a form of business association that carries on an industrial enterprise, are usually corporations, although some companies may take forms other than a corporation, such as associations, partnership, unions, joint stock companies, trusts, and funds. Limited liability companies are unincorporated associations having certain characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship. LLCs, like both incorporated and unincorporated companies, are legal persons.
• Sovereign states are legal persons.
• In the international legal system, various organizations possess legal personality. These include intergovernmental organizations (the United Nations, the Council of Europe) and some other international organizations (including the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a religious order).
• Temples, in some legal systems, have separate legal personality^[2]

Not all organizations have legal personality. For example, the board of directors of a corporation, legislature, or governmental agency typically are not legal persons in that they have no ability to exercise legal rights independent of the corporation or political body which they are a part of.

Creation and history of the doctrine[link]

In the common law tradition, only a person could sue or be sued. This was not a problem in the era before the Industrial Revolution, when the typical business venture was either a sole proprietorship or partnership—the owners were simply liable for the debts of the business. A feature of the corporation, however, is that the owners/shareholders enjoyed limited liability—the owners were not liable for the debts of the company. Thus, when a corporation breached a contract or broke a law, there was no remedy, because limited liability protected the owners and the corporation wasn't a legal person subject to the law. There was no accountability for corporate wrong-doing.

To resolve the issue, the legal personality of a corporation was established to include five legal rights—the right to a common treasury or chest (including the right to own property), the right to a corporate seal (i.e., the right to make and sign contracts), the right to sue and be sued (to enforce contracts), the right to hire agents (employees) and the right to make by-laws (self-governance).

Since the 19th century, legal personhood has been further construed to make it a citizen, resident, or domiciliary of a state (usually for purposes of personal jurisdiction). In Louisville, C. & C.R. Co. v. Letson, 2 How. 497, 558, 11 L.Ed. 353 (1844), the U.S. Supreme Court held that for the purposes of the case at hand, a corporation is "capable of being treated as a citizen of [the State which created it], as much as a natural person." Ten years later, they reaffirmed the result of Letson, though on the somewhat different theory that "those who use the corporate name, and exercise the faculties conferred by it," should be presumed conclusively to be citizens of the corporation's State of incorporation. Marshall v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 16 How. 314, 329, 14 L.Ed. 953 (1854). These concepts have been codified by statute, as U.S. jurisdictional statutes specifically address the domicile of corporations.

Limitations[link]

There are limitations to the legal recognition of legal persons. Legal entities cannot marry, they usually cannot vote or hold public office,^[3] and in most jurisdictions there are certain positions which they cannot occupy.^[4] The extent to which a legal entity can commit a crime varies from country to country. Certain countries prohibit a legal entity from holding human rights; other countries permit artificial persons to enjoy certain protections from the state that are traditionally described as human rights.^[5]

Special rules apply to legal persons in relation to the law of defamation. Defamation is the area of law in which a person's reputation has been unlawfully damaged. This is considered an ill in itself in regard to natural person, but a legal person is required to show actual or likely monetary loss before a suit for defamation will succeed.^[6][where?]

Extension of basic rights to legal persons[link]

International[link]

The international judicial organisation that addresses itself to the legal personality of many diverse entities is the International Criminal Court.

United States[link]

In part based on the principle that legal persons are simply organizations of natural persons, and in part based on the history of statutory interpretation of the word "person", the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that certain constitutional rights protect legal persons (like corporations and other organizations). Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad is sometimes cited for this finding because the court reporter's comments included a statement the Chief Justice made before oral arguments began, telling the attorneys during pre-trial that "the court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does." Later opinions misinterpreted these pre-argument comments as part of the legal decision.^[7] As a result, because of the First Amendment, Congress may not make a law restricting the free speech of a corporation, a political action group or dictating the coverage of a local newspaper,^[8] and because of the Due Process Clause, a state government may not take the property of a corporation without using due process of law and providing just compensation. These protections apply to all legal entities, not just corporations.

Germany[link]

Article 19, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law declares: "The basic rights shall also apply to domestic artificial persons to the extent that the nature of such rights permits."^[9]

People's Republic of China[link]

For a typical example of the concept of legal person in a civil law jurisdiction, under the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, Chapter III, Article 36., "A legal person shall be an organization that has capacity for civil rights and capacity for civil conduct and independently enjoys civil rights and assumes civil obligations in accordance with the law."^[10] Note however that the term civil right means something altogether different in civil law jurisdictions than in common law jurisdictions.

European Convention on Human Rights[link]

The European Convention on Human Rights extends fundamental human rights also to legal persons, which can file applications with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in case of a violation by one of the 47 signatory states.^[11]

Controversies about "corporate personhood" in the United States[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (October 2011)

Since the mid-19th century, corporate personhood has become increasingly controversial, as courts have extended other rights to the corporation beyond those necessary to ensure their liability for debts. Other commentators argue that corporate personhood is not a fiction anymore—it simply means that for some legal purposes, "person" has now a wider meaning than it has in non-legal uses. Some groups and individuals (including the Greens/Green Party USA^[12]) have objected to "corporate personhood."

In part as a matter of subsequent interpretations of the word "person" in the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. courts have extended certain constitutional protections to corporations. Opponents of "corporate personhood" don't necessarily want to eliminate legal entities, but do want to limit these rights to those provided by state constitutions through constitutional amendment.^[13] Often, this is motivated by a desire to restrict the political speech and donations of corporations, lobby groups, lobbyists, and political parties. Social commentator Thom Hartmann is among those that share this view.^[14] Because legal persons have limited "free speech" rights, legislation meant to eliminate campaign contributions by legal persons (notably, corporations and labor unions) has been repeatedly struck down by various courts. On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States, deciding Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission^[15] by a 5-4 majority, removed restrictions on some types of corporate spending in support of (or in opposition to) specific candidates. This dramatically expanded the free speech rights of corporations.

See also[link]

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 118
• Paul v. Virginia ("... in which the United States Supreme Court held that a corporation is not a citizen ...")
• Netscape Communications Corp. v. Konrad for what it means for two entities to be separate

Notes[link]

References[link]

Books

• J Binder, Das Problem der juristischen Persönlichkeit, (1907)
• R Saleilles, De La Personalité Juridique: Histoire et Théories (1922)
• F Hallis, Corporate Personality: A Study in Jurisprudence (1930)
• PW Duff, Personality in Roman Private Law, (1938)
• CA Cooke, Corporation, Trust and Company: A Legal History, (1950)
• A Watson, The Law of Persons in the Later Roman Republic (1967)
• S Guterman, The Principle of the Personality of Law in the Germanic Kingdoms of Western Europe from the Fifth to the Eleventh Century (1990)

Articles

• J Dewey, ‘The Historic Background of Corporate Legal Personality’ (1926) 35 Yale Law Journal 655
• AW Machen, ‘Corporate Personality’ (1910) 24 Harvard Law Review 253

v t e Law Core subjects Administrative law Constitutional law Contract Criminal law Equity Evidence Law of obligations Procedure Civil Criminal Property law Public international law Public law Restitution Statutory law Tort Other subjects Admiralty law Aviation law Banking law Bankruptcy Commercial law Companies law Competition law Conflict of laws Consumer protection Cyberlaw Election law Energy law Entertainment law Environmental law Family law Financial regulation Health law Immigration law Intellectual property International criminal law International human rights Labour law Military law Product liability Space law Sports law Tax law Trust law Unjust enrichment Wills Sources of law Constitution Custom Decree Edict Executive order Delegated legislation Rulemaking Precedent Case law Statute Legal systems Canon law Civil law Common law Chinese law Jewish law Roman law Russian law Sharia Socialist law Statutory law Xeer Legal theory Critical legal studies Comparative law Economic analysis History International legal theory Philosophy Sociology Legal institutions Bureaucracy Civil society Election commission Executive Judiciary Legal profession Legislature Military Police Category Index Outline Portal

A person is a being, such as a human, that has certain capacities or attributes constituting personhood, the precise definition of which is the subject of much controversy.^{[vague language]} The common plural of "person", "people", is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), so the plural "persons" is often used in contexts which require precision such as philosophical and legal writing.

Etymology[link]

In ancient Rome, the word "persona" (Latin) or "prosopon" (πρόσωπον: Greek) originally referred to the masks worn by actors on stage. The various masks represented the various "personae" in the stage play, while the masks themselves helped the actor's voice resonate and made it easier for the audience to hear.^[1]

In Roman law, the word "persona" became used to refer to a role played in court, and it became established that it was the role rather than the actor that could have rights, powers, and duties, because different individuals could assume the same roles, the rights, powers, and duties followed the role rather than the actor, and each individual could act in more than one role, each a different "person" in law.^{[tortured english][citation needed]}

The concept of a "person" was further developed during the Trinitarian and Christological debates of the first through sixth centuries. Since then, a number of important changes to the word's meaning and use have taken place, and attempts have been made to redefine the word with varying degrees of adoption and influence.

Many modern speakers of colloquial English conflate the meanings of role and actor, which can result in some confusion when they try to enter into legal discourse.^{[citation needed]}

Personhood[link]

An abstract painting of a person by Paul Klee. The concept of a person can be very challenging to define.

Personhood is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in philosophy and law, and is closely tied to legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty. According to law, only a natural person or legal personality has rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and legal liability. Personhood continues to be a topic of international debate. Historically, personhood was questioned during the abolition of slavery, the fight for women's rights and animal rights, debates about abortion, fetal rights and reproductive rights as well as debates about corporate personhood.^[2]

Various specific debates have focused and continue to focus on questions about the personhood of different classes of entities. Historically, the personhood of animals, women, and slaves has been a catalyst of social upheaval. Today, most living adult humans are usually considered persons, but depending on the context, theory or definition, the category of "person" may be taken to include such non-human entities as animals, corporations, sovereign states or other polities, estates in probate, artificial intelligences, or extraterrestrial life; and may exclude some human entities in prenatal development or those with extreme mental impairments or injuries. A deceased person may be considered a person or property, depending on jurisdiction.

Personal identity[link]

What does it take for individuals to persist from moment to moment — or in other words, for the same individual to exist at different moments?

Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of persons through time. That is to say, the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time can be said to be the same person, persisting through time. In the modern philosophy of mind, this concept of personal identity is sometimes referred to as the diachronic problem of personal identity. The synchronic problem is grounded in the question of what features or traits characterize a given person at one time.

Identity is an issue for both continental philosophy and analytic philosophy. A key question in continental philosophy is in what sense we can maintain the modern conception of identity, while realizing many of our prior assumptions about the world are incorrect.

Proposed solutions to the problem of personal identity include continuity of the physical body, continuity of an immaterial mind or soul, continuity of consciousness or memory, the bundle theory of self, and proposals that there are actually no persons or selves which persist over time at all.

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lukes, Steven; Carrithers, Michael; Collins, Steven, eds. (1987). The category of the person: Anthropology, philosophy, history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-27757-4. 
• Cornelia J.de Vogel The concept of personality in Greek and Christian thought. In Studies in philosophy and the history of philosophy. Vol. 2. Edited by J. K. Ryan, Washington: Catholic University of America Press 1963. pp. 20–60
• Puccetti, Roland (1968). Persons: A Study of Possible Moral Agents in the Universe. London: Macmillan and Company. 
•  "Person". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• Korfmacher, Carsten (May 29, 2006). "Personal Identity". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/person-i.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-09. 

External links[link]

Look up person in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Rights of Non-Human Persons Program (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies)

Gary Ackerman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Raymond McGrath
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 7th district
In office March 2, 1983 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Benjamin Rosenthal
Succeeded by	Thomas Manton
Member of the New York Senate from the 12th District
In office January 3, 1979 – March 1, 1983
Preceded by	Jack Bronston
Succeeded by	Leonard Stavisky
Personal details
Born	Gary Leonard Ackerman (1942-11-19) November 19, 1942 (age 69) Brooklyn, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rita Gale Tewel
Residence	Roslyn Heights, New York
Alma mater	Queens College
Occupation	high school teacher, newspaper publisher
Religion	Judaism

Gary Leonard Ackerman (born November 19, 1942) is the U.S. Representative for New York's 5th congressional district, serving since a special election in 1983. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompasses the North Shore of Long Island, including West and Northeast Queens and Northern Nassau County along with Corona, Flushing, Jamaica Estates, Bayside, Whitestone, Douglaston, and Little Neck in Queens, Floral Park, as well as Great Neck, Sands Point, Port Washington, Searingtown, Albertson, Manhasset, and Roslyn in Nassau County. On March 15, 2012, Ackerman announced that he will retire at the end of the 112th Congress on January 3, 2013 after fifteen terms, and will not seek re-election in November 2012.

Early life, education, and early career[link]

Ackerman was born in Brooklyn, the son of Eva (née Barnett) and Max Ackerman. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.^[1] He was raised in Flushing, Queens. He attended local public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from Queens College in 1965. After college, Ackerman became a New York City School teacher where he taught social studies, mathematics, and journalism to junior high school students in Queens.

Following the birth of his first child in 1969, Ackerman petitioned the New York City Board of Education for an unpaid leave of absence to spend time with his newborn daughter. But his request was denied under then existing policy which reserved unpaid "maternity-child care" leave to women only.

In what was to be a forerunner of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, then teacher Ackerman successfully sued the Board in a landmark case which established the right of either parent to receive unpaid leave for child care. A quarter of a century later, now a Congressman, Ackerman in the House-Senate Conference Committee, signed the report of the Family and Medical Leave Act which became the law of the land.

Ackerman's second career move occurred in 1970, when he left teaching to start a weekly community newspaper in Queens called The Flushing Tribune which soon became the Queens Tribune. Ackerman served as its editor and publisher.

New York Senate[link]

Ackerman was first elected to public office — the New York Senate — in 1978. State Senator Ackerman was then elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1983 in a special election. Ackerman represented the central Queens area until 1992, when reapportionment reconfigured his district to the north shore of Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. Then redistricting in 2002 slightly redrew the boundaries again to its present configuration of communities in Queens and Nassau County.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Elections[link]

Incumbent Democrat U.S. Congressman Benjamin Rosenthal died on January 4, 1983. Ackerman won the special election with a plurality of 49%.^[2] In 1984, he won re-election to a full term with 69% of the vote.^[3] In 1986, he won re-election with 77%, and was unopposed in 1988 and 1990. After redistricting, he ran in New York's 5th congressional district. He won the Democratic primary with 60%,^[4] and the general election with 52% against Republican county legislator Allan E. Binder.^[5] In 1994, he won re-election with 55% of the vote.^[6] Since then, he has won re-election with at least 63% of the vote.^[7]

Tenure[link]

Health[link]

Among Ackerman's significant legislative undertakings, was the passage of his Baby AIDS amendment to the Ryan White Care Act. The measure requires mandatory HIV testing of newborns and disclosure of the results to the mother.^[8]

Ackerman championed the issue of newborn testing after discovering that 45 states, including New York, tested babies for HIV but used the data solely to track the prevalence of the disease in the population, and did not disclose the results to the mothers. As a result, thousands of mothers brought their infants home from the hospital, never aware that their children had tested positive for HIV. Ackerman stopped the anonymous testing from being reinstated in years that followed.

Ackerman also scored a victory in his efforts to ban downed animals from being sold as meat in supermarkets, restaurants and butcher stores. For a decade, Ackerman warned that use of such livestock was not only inhumane treatment of animals but also risked causing a Mad Cow disaster in the United States. His legislation fell on deaf ears until December 2003, when his warning became prophetic and the Bush Administration — among those who had opposed the bill — finally imposed his ban through regulation.

Ackerman was also successful in getting Medicare to cover testing for prostate cancer.

In addition, Ackerman sponsored the first federal legislation to ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving.

Finance[link]

Also law of the land is Congressman Ackerman’s measure requiring banks and financial companies to notify consumers when negative information is placed on their credit reports. The Congressman also sponsored legislation which is now law that in the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals, prohibits accounting firms from consulting for the companies they audit.

On October 3, 2008 Rep. Ackerman voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program^[9] believing that the enumerated powers grant congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector."

On January 8, 2009, Ackerman introduced a bill to order the Securities and Exchange Commission to re-institute the uptick rule, limiting the circumstances under which traders can sell stock short.

On February 4, 2009, Gary Ackerman criticized SEC Officials over the handling of tips given to them about the Bernie Madoff scandal. Ackerman said "“I’m reflecting what the American public feels,” he said. “How are they supposed to have confidence that if somebody goes to you with a complaint—gives it to you on a silver platter with all the investigations, with all the numbers, with all of the data, telling you exactly what he did, how he did it, and why he did it and how he knows that—and after a period after half a dozen or eight years, you don’t know anything?”"^[10]

Foreign policy and terrorism[link]

On October 10, 2002, Gary Ackerman was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

Congressman Ackerman also convinced the Defense Department to stop garnishing wages from certain U.S. soldiers serving in the war against Iraq. Although troops who serve in combat zones are not required to pay federal taxes, many soldiers had failed to be granted the exemption.

Other highlights include the Congressman authoring legislation that required President George W. Bush to impose sanctions against the Palestinian Authority for not complying with peace agreements it signed with the U.S. and Israel.

Gary Ackerman with former Republic of China (Taiwan) President, Chen Shui-bian.

In his capacity as the then Chairman of the Asia Subcommittee, Ackerman made history in the 1990s by traveling to North Korea to discuss non-proliferation. Upon his return to South Korea, Ackerman became the first person since the Korean War to cross the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

Enacted as well was his measure that prevents war criminals and human rights abusers who have perpetrated genocide, torture, terrorism or other atrocities, from entering the U.S. and deports those who have slipped in.

He convinced the German government to establish a US$110 million fund to compensate 18,000 Holocaust survivors and to investigate whether 3,300 formerNazi soldiers now living in the U.S. and collecting German pensions are war criminals.^{[citation needed]}

Ackerman is also well known for his many missions to feed the starving people of Ethiopia and the Sudan and for playing a leading role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews and aiding their emigration to Israel. Active in the Middle East peace process, Ackerman has met with the current and most past Israeli prime ministers and the heads of all the Arab countries in an effort to help secure peace in the region. He also ventured to Kashmir enduring sub-freezing winter temperatures in an attempt to secure the release of four western hostages.

On January 2011, Gary Ackerman criticized Jewish organizations including the Jewish Voice for Peace and J Street for their perspective of what actions had to be taken for a lasting Mideast peace.

On January 12, 2009, Gary Ackerman admitted to arranging a visit between Israeli officials and a defense contractor at the same time he was investing in that contractor.^[11] Although the visit did not result in any official deal between the parties, questions regarding his ethics were raised.^[12]

The Congressman was also successful in getting enacted, his bill that created the "Heroes" postage stamp, the revenue from which helps the families of rescue workers killed or permanently disabled while responding to the September 11 attacks. The stamp was based on a photograph entitled Ground Zero Spirit. In addition, the Congressman lobbied federal security officials — with the September 11, 2001 attacks in mind — to use retired law enforcement officers as screeners at New York airports and he pressed President Bush to make good on his promise to provide New York with US$20 billion in additional 9/11 disaster aid.

On May 22, 2008, Gary Ackerman submitted the controversial resolution H. Con. Res. 362 which opponents call a declaration of war against Iran.

In 2011, Ackerman voted to extend expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act^[13] and voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.^[14]

State and local issues[link]

Among his many other initiatives, Ackerman helped to force the State of Hawaii to change its law that forbade blind individuals from bringing their guide dogs with them to the islands. The Congressman chaired an investigation and bipartisan hearing into whether New York City and Long Island officials properly utilized the spraying of Malathion during the West Nile virus outbreak. He also obtained federal funds to combat a return of the virus.

Other issues[link]

The Congressman has also not been without some controversial votes. He was one of only 22 Congressman and one of 2 Democrats from New York to vote against a resolution calling for the protection of the symbols and traditions of Christmas. The resolution, which did not include language that would protect the symbols of other religious holidays, passed 401-22 in the House in December 2005. This isn’t the first time the Congressman was labeled as anti-Christian; in April 2003 the Catholic League for religious and civil rights attacked Ackerman for voting against a non-binding resolution that would have declared a day of prayer in recognition of the U.S. war in Iraq. He was also criticized for calling on Bush to demand U.S. Secretary Rod Paige's resignation for stating that values taught in Christian schools are better than those learned in public schools.

Ackerman received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.^[15] Ackerman is also a member of the Cuba Democracy Caucus and is currently the head of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP).

According to a Washington Post database, Ackerman has missed voting on 80 occasions pertaining to a variety of issues, including the Pension Protection Act, the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act, and the Honoring the Contributions of Catholic Schools.^[16][17]

In June, 2001, Ackerman honored King Christian X of Denmark for his wearing a yellow badge armband during World War II in support of the Danish Jews who had been ordered by the Nazi occupation to wear yellow badges, although Jews in Denmark were never forced to wear an armband, and the story is merely a legend.^[18]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia (Ranking Member)

He was the Congress’ delegate to the United Nations.^[when?] In addition, he is the ranking Democrat on the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.^[when?] In 2002, he was awarded India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan for his contributions as member of the India Caucus in the Congress.

Caucus memberships[link]

• Congressional Arts Caucus
• Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans

Personal life[link]

Ackerman, who sports a white carnation boutonnière each day, lives on a houseboat named the Unsinkable II while in Washington, D.C. and otherwise resides in Roslyn Heights in Nassau County with his wife Rita, having moved there from a home in Jamaica Estates, Queens that sold for US$1 million in 2008.^[19] The Ackermans have three children: Lauren, Corey, and Ari.^{[citation needed]} Representative Ackerman is an amateur photographer, an avid stamp collector and a boating enthusiast. Ackerman is an Eagle Scout.

At the 2006 meeting of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), Ackerman was unanimously elected to serve as the executive of the organization.

Ackerman was named an honorary graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy for his continued support of the service academy located in Kings Point, New York.

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Congressman Gary Ackerman official U.S. House site
• Ackerman for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch
• BSA Fact Sheet

Edward M. Liddy
Born	(1946-01-28) January 28, 1946 (age 66) New Brunswick, NJ[1]
Nationality	United States
Education	B.A. 1968 MBA 1972
Alma mater	Catholic University of America George Washington University
Occupation	CEO
Employer	AIG
Title	CEO and Chairman of AIG
Term	September 2008–August 2009
Predecessor	Robert B. Willumstad
Successor	Robert Benmosche
Board member of	3M and The Kroger Company
Spouse	Marcia
Children	3
Signature

Edward Michael Liddy (born January 28, 1946) was the chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG) from 2008 to 2009 during the late-2000s financial crisis.

Early life[link]

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Liddy prepped at the Trinity-Pawling School for Boys (Founder's League), located on the hills overlooking Pawling, New York. He holds a B. A. degree from The Catholic University of America (1968)^[2] and holds an MBA from George Washington University (1972).

Career[link]

Liddy worked for Ford Motor Company until 1981 when he joined Searle. From 1986 to 1988. Liddy was executive vice president of ADT, Inc.^[3] In 1988 he moved to Sears^[4] and then in 1994 to Allstate where chief operating officer until 1999 and president until 2005.^[3]

Liddy was on the board of Goldman Sachs from 2003 to 2008, when he resigned to become CEO of AIG.^[5] He was selected by Henry Paulson for both roles.^[6]

As CEO of AIG[link]

Liddy became CEO of AIG in September 2008, succeeding Robert B. Willumstad.^[7] As CEO of AIG, Liddy received a salary of just $1,^{[8][9][10][11]} but also received $460,000 to cover "housing, travel, taxes and legal fees".^[12]

Liddy garnered national headlines in October 2008 for defending a controversial $440,000 AIG retreat for top-performing insurance salesmen at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California. The retreat, which was held shortly after the U.S. government rescued AIG from insolvency with $84 billion in loans, included $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 for the spa. In testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee, Liddy stated that such retreats "are standard practice in our industry."^[13] During the U.S. presidential debate on October 7, 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama mentioned the retreat and said, "The Treasury should demand that money back and those executives should be fired."^[14]

In light of the AIG bonus payments controversy, Liddy urged employees to return $165m issued in bonuses to them,^[15] suggesting doing the "right thing"^[16] and returning at least part of the bonus is preferable to legal action, noting “honoring contractual commitments is at the heart of what we do in the insurance business.”^[17] While Mr Liddy called the bonuses “distasteful” in an appearance in the House of Representatives,^[18] it later transpired that Liddy had accelerated more than a quarter of AIG Financial Products bonuses by three months, which Jake DeSantis described as “hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts ‘distasteful’.”^[19]

Liddy owned 27,129 shares in Goldman Sachs, at the time worth just over $3 million.^[20] In April 2009 members of Congress called for Liddy to sell these shares, as they created a conflict of interest due to Goldman Sachs' receipt of bailout money.^[21]

Liddy announced on May 21, 2009 that he would resign as AIG Chairman and CEO when replacements were found, suggesting that the two roles be split.^[22] In August 2009, Robert Benmosche took over as CEO and Harvey Golub as chairman.^[23]

Career after AIG[link]

As of September 2011, Liddy is on the board of directors for 3M^[24] and Boeing.^[25] He is chairman of ServiceMaster^[26] and a partner of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.^[27][28]

References[link]

External links[link]

• 10 Things You Didn't Know About Edward Liddy from U.S. News & World Report.

v t e The Kroger Company Corporate Directors: David B. Dillon · Robert D. Beyer · John T. LaMacchia · Edward M. Liddy · Katherine D. Ortega · Bobby S. Shackouls · John Clendenin · David B. Lewis · Susan M. Phillips · Reuben V. Anderson · Don W. McGeorge · W. Rodney McMullen · Clyde R. Moore · Steven R. Rogel · James A. Runde Grocery Retail Baker's · City Market · Dillons · Food 4 Less · Foods Co. · Fred Meyer · Fry's Food and Drug · Gerbes · JayC Food Stores · King Soopers · Kroger Food and Drug · Owen's Market · Pay Less Food Markets · Quality Food Centers · Ralphs · Smith's Food and Drug · Scott's Food & Pharmacy Convenience Kwik Shop · Loaf 'N Jug · Quik Stop · Turkey Hill · Tom Thumb Jewelry Barclay Jewelers · Fox Jewelers  · Fred Meyer Jewelers · Littman Jewelers Net revenue: $76.00 billion USD ($1.249 billion USD FY 2008) · Employees: 323,000 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: KR · Website: thekrogerco.com