Longtime Boston banking executive James G. Connolly, 49, president and chief executive officer of National Bank Holdings Corp., Boston, and former president of Citizens Financial Group, died Jan. 21 in New York.
A veteran of the New England banking industry, he recently launched National Bank Holdings Corp., a $1 billion venture to build a leading community banking franchise focused on retail and business customers.
Mr. Connolly began his banking career with a 19-year tenure at FleetBoston, during which time he was president and CEO of Fleet Capital Corp., a former president of Fleet Capital’s Northeast Division and chairman and CEO of Fleet Bank in Connecticut.
A former vice chairman in charge of the Commercial Markets Group, in 2008, he became president of Citizens, leading the eighth-largest commercial bank holding company in the United States. He left Citizens in 2009 to form National Bank Holdings Corp.
A resident of Medfield and former resident of Farmington, Conn., he was a native of South Boston. He graduated from Boston Latin School and Harvard College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1982.
Throughout his career, Mr. Connolly served as a director for various nonprofit organizations in both the Greater Boston and Greater Hartford areas. He was a member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, a director of the Boston Latin School Association and member of its finance committee, and a director and chairman of Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership.
He was a member of The Commercial Club of Boston/Merchants Club as well as a member of the board of The American Ireland Fund, Boston. He was also a former overseer of the board of directors of WGBH-TV in Boston.
Mr. Connolly was a member of St. Edward’s Parish in Medfield.
A lifelong athlete and sports fan, he was active in his sons’ sports lives, helping to coach various CYO basketball and youth baseball teams when he wasn’t supporting them from the stands.
He is survived by his wife, Maureen (Smith) Connolly, and his sons, James M. Connolly and Colin P. Connolly, all of Medfield; his mother, Catherine (Rosenthal) Connolly, of South Boston, his mother-in-law, Noelle Smith; his sisters, Judy Connolly, of South Boston, and Patricia Connolly Higgins and her husband, Donald, of Braintree; his brother, Timothy Connolly, of Cohasset; and his many nieces and nephews, among them, Timothy Connolly and Lauren Connolly, and Sheamus Higgins, Liam Higgins, Delia Higgins and Ronan Higgins; and his brother- and sisters-in-law.
He was the son of the late James M. Connolly.
A funeral Mass was celebrated in Gate of Heaven Church, South Boston, on Jan. 27. Burial was in Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield.
Donations may be made to The American Heart Association, 20 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701 or The American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701.
Arrangements were by the Alfred D. Thomas Funeral Home.