William A. Conway

Who was William A. Conway?

William A. Conway. William A. Conway was born in Newark, but resided for much of his life in Chatham, New Jersey and Summit, New Jersey.

William A. Conway's career was notable for the fact that he rose from Wall Street messenger boy to CEO of Garden State National Bank, but he is best remembered for his efforts working as an activist shareholder of behalf of minority stockholders of Garden State during the late 1970s. As a dissident member of the board, his independent efforts to block a merger he viewed as unfair to certain minority shareholders is often compared to the shareholder rights efforts undertaken in recent years by certain hedge funds.

Conway attended the Pingry School in Elizabeth, New Jersey but did not graduate due to a bout with rheumatic fever that sidelined him for several months.

Though Conway never finished high school, he started work as an errand boy on Wall Street and later began what turned out to be an illustrious banking career. Moving on to the Hudson County National Bank in Jersey City, New Jersey, Conway rose from an entry-level clerk position, ultimately becoming president of the bank, leading it through a period of technological change and mergers.