Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg (born May 4, 1925) is an American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG). Early life Greenberg was born into a Jewish family in Greenwich Village, New York City. His father, Jacob Greenberg, died when Hank was six and his mother, Ada Rheingold, married a dairy farmer. Greenberg served in the United States Army in Europe during World War II, participating in Operation Overlord (the Normandy Landings), Liberation of Dachau, and in the Korean War, rising to the rank of captain; he is a recipient of the Bronze Star, as well as Commandeur of the French Ordre National de la Legion d' Honneur as a result of his military service in the European Theater during World War II. Greenberg received his bachelor's degree from the University of Miami in 1948, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, and his law degree from New York Law School in 1950. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1953. He holds honorary degrees from several colleges including Brown University, Middlebury College, New York Law School and The Rockefeller University. Rise and fall at AIG In 1962 Greenberg was named by AIG's founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, as the head of AIG's North American holdings after working for Continental Casualty Company, a unit of CNA in Chicago. In 1968 Starr picked Greenberg as his successor. Greenberg held the position until March 2005, when he retired from AIG and was replaced by Martin J. Sullivan. He was subsequently the subject of New York State civil charges which were resolved on February 10, 2017, subject to a settlement (without any admission of wrongdoing) with the office of the New York Attorney General. Greenberg is a social friend and was a client of Henry Kissinger. In 1987 he appointed Kissinger as chairman of AIG's International Advisory Board. In 2003, Vladimir Putin pursued an economic agenda for Russia to begin normalized trade relations with the West which included the repeal of the Jackson–Vanik amendment. Putin tried to use his relationship with Hank Greenberg to repeal the Jackson-Vannik provisions in the United States. Putin wanted Greenberg to support through American Insurance Group greater development of the nascent Russian home-mortgage market. In 2008 he appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" criticizing the board of directors of AIG. In an interview with Reactions magazine in March