Following Ray’s retirement from EY, his legacy of leadership continued, as he served as Chairman of Legg Mason Merchant Banking and as President, Chairman and Senior Advisor at global insurer Marsh, in addition to serving on many high-profile corporate boards of directors, such as RJR Nabisco, EDS, Boston Scientific, Gillette, and Marsh McLennan. This manifested itself in various ways, including service as the Chairman of the AICPA while strengthening the Institute’s relationship with the SEC, the Board of Governors of both the NASD and the American Stock Exchange, numerous committees of the SEC, all of which led to his election to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1999. Throughout his career, Ray demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the advancement of the profession. Ray’s almost peerless commitment to quality was essential as the firm navigated through the savings and loan industry collapse soon after the merger while setting the tone for the firm’s future growth and expansion. At the time of the merger between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young in 1989, Ernst & Young was the largest professional services firm in the world, with 70,000 professionals, including 2,100 partners, in more than 100 countries.
Ray’s greatest professional legacy was his partnership with his eventual Co-CEO, Bill Gladstone, to architect the most important, groundbreaking merger in the history of the accounting profession. Ray was a visionary, swiftly leading E&E’s transformation from a powerhouse across the midwestern US to the market-leading global professional services firm it became. He played a key role in leading the profession through a period of great change and development in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Upon the merger between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young to create Ernst & Young (EY) in 1989, Ray served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman and CEO of EY until his retirement in 1994 as the longest-serving CEO of a Big 8/Big 4 professional services firm in history. in 1978, and then with English firm Whinney Murray & Co. Ray served as Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Ernst beginning in 1977, at age 42, leading that firm through two pivotal mergers, with the NYC firm S. He became the youngest partner in firm history in 1966, at age 31.
Upon graduation from his beloved Ohio State University (OSU) summa cum laude in 1957, Ray joined the accounting firm of Ernst & Ernst in Cleveland. Ray was born in Cleveland, Ohio on September 7, 1935, graduating from East Tech High School in 1953. His daughter, Elizabeth, and his parents, Gordon and Helen, preceded him in death. A beloved husband and father, he is survived by his spouse of 61 years, Anne, his three sons, Phil, Matt, and Dave, eight grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Ray Groves passed on Wednesday, at the age of 87.
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