William Aramony, who built the United Way of America into an empire of charitable giving during his 20 years as its president but was jailed in 1995 for defrauding the organization of more than $1 million, died Nov. 11 at his home in Alexandria. He was 84.
He had complications from prostate cancer, said his son, Robert Aramony.
Mr. Aramony, who led the United Way from 1970 to 1992, spent six years in a federal prison after he was convicted in 1995 on 23 counts of felony charges, including conspiracy, fraud and filing false tax returns.
Revelations that he used United Way funds to pay for extramarital affairs — including a dalliance he began with a teenager soon after she graduated high school — embarrassed one of the nation’s most respected charities. His actions moved scores of charitable organizations to review their business practices.
Mr. Aramony spent much of his career working at the United Way and its predecessor groups. When he took over in 1970, he turned a sprawling network of charities without a unified mission or singular name into the United Way of America.
He recruited artist Saul Bass to design the organization’s new logo — a cupped hand and an arching rainbow. Bass described the symbol, which became a much-recognized image, as “the hand of the United Way bringing hope to people.”
To expand the United Way’s brand recognition, Mr. Aramony also forged a relationship with the NFL, which gave the organization tens of millions of dollars in free advertising by having star athletes promote charitable giving on TV.
As president, Mr. Aramony helped United Way annual donations grow to more than $3 billion in 1990 from $787 million in 1970. He was lauded within the group as a “visionary” and a “genius” whose restructuring of United Way saved the charity from dissolution.
Although United Way of America raised little money itself, the Alexandria-based organization oversaw a countrywide network composed of 2,100 independently led agencies. Those, in turn, supported 47,000 charities, including suicide help lines, rape crisis centers, the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
United Way of America’s $29 million budget was funded by 1,400 dues-paying member groups that gave one penny of every dollar donated.
Along with shaping the network’s national agenda, United Way of America offered training and services on how to raise funds.
Mr. Aramony was one of the highest-paid executives in the charity field, earning an annual compensation package of more than $460,000. Yet, as federal prosecutors charged, he used United Way money to support a luxurious lifestyle that included craps games in Las Vegas, frequenting velvet-rope dance clubs and eating lobster dinners in tony restaurants.
In 1992, reports of Mr. Aramony’s excess by The Washington Post and Regardie’s magazine prompted the FBI and IRS to investigate his leadership at the charity.
Mr. Aramony contended that his lavish spending was a way to ingratiate himself with corporate executives to gain their trust and also their financial support.
