Former ICI President David Silver Dies

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- David Silver, who served as president of the Investment Company Institute from 1977 to 1991, has died.

Silver “was a great leader of the mutual fund industry,’’ said ICI chairman Gregory Johnson in announcing Silver’s passing at the outset of the fund industry advocacy group’s annual general membership meeting here

Born in 1931, Silver, who also served as a senior staff lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission, came to the ICI in 1966. At the time, the trade group had 20 staff members and the entire industry had $35 billion in assets.

When he left in 1991, ICI had 100 staff members and the industry tally of assets was $1.6 trillion.

"During that quarter century, David was a tireless advocate of funds and their shareholders,’’ Johnson said. “He championed clear disclosures and new types of funds to better serve investors."

He is the '’father of the universal IRA," which proposes that businesses too small to afford retirement plans transfer money from an employee’s paycheck directly to an individual retirement account. He also is the founder of ICI Mutual, an organization that provides investment companies and their directors, officers and advisers with insurance services.

"Our industry and our investors owe an enormous debt of gratitude to David Silver," Johnson said.