Hoffman, Claire Giannini, 1904-1997

Claire Giannini Hoffman was on the Board of Directors of the Bank of America from 1949 to 1985 and a member of the General Executive Committee of the Bank of America.

Biographical Information

Claire Evelyn Giannini was born on December 30, 1904 to Amadeo Peter Giannini (died 1949) and Clorinda Agnes Cuneo (also called Clara Cuneo ; died 1941) in San Mateo, California.

She was educated at San Mateo Grammar School, Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut, Ransom School in Piedmont, California, Mills College in Oakland, California; she also attended business school in Beverly Hills, California.

Hoffman's father, A.P. Giannini was the founder of the Bank of Italy, later renamed Bank of America, and of the Banca d'America e d'Italia . Her brother, L. M. Giannini, was president of the Bank of America from 1936 to his death in 1952. Her husband, Clifford P. Hoffman, was an investment banker. He died in 1954.

Since an early age, Claire Giannini Hoffman accompanied her father on business trips nationwide and abroad. She was appointed on June 14, 1949 to a seat on the Board of Directors of the Bank of America left vacant by the death of her father, from which she resigned in 1985. Upon the death of her brother in 1952, she became a member of the General Executive Committee of the Bank of America. In 1957, she was elected a Director of the Banca d'America e d'Italia. She was also Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bank of America-Giannini Foundation, established in 1945.

Claire Giannini Hoffman was active in many national and international banking organizations, where she often was the only woman member. She was a United States delegate to the Atlantic Congress held in London in 1959. In 1960, she was appointed as a member to the Council of Consultants on the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 1973, she was the first woman to be asked to be a governor of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Claire Giannini Hoffman was a committed supporter of women pursuing careers and strove to secure equal opportunities for women in business. She was committed to continuing her father's legacy until her death in 1997 at her childhood home in San Mateo.