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Herb Sandler, Thrift Executive, Dies at 87

Herb Sandler, the mortgage industry executive praised for his philanthropy and criticized for lending practices ahead of the 2008 economic crisis, passed away on June 5 at the age of 87.

The Sandlers built their financial institution into the nation’s second largest thrift by the time they sold it to Wachovia in 2006 for $24 billion. However, the purchase eventually proved lethal to Wachovia, which suffer significant losses from mortgages originated by Golden West. Wachovia eventually sold its World Savings’ loan portfolio under duress to Wells Fargo and the Sandlers were identified by Time magazine as one of the “25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis.”
Sandler used his post-banking career to concentrate on philanthropy, creating a family foundation and supporting left-of-center organizations including the Center for American Progress think tank and the ProPublica news site.
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