Michael F. Bianco

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Michael F. Bianco passed away in Palo Alto on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, as a result of heart failure.

Born Dec. 27, 1940, in Pittston, Michael had recently celebrated his 74th birthday.

Michael joined Chase Manhattan Bank in 1968 and worked in Japan for the bank from 1970 to 1973. He subsequently held positions of increasing responsibility at a number of well-respected firms, such as managing director and national partner, Corporate Financial Consulting for Arthur Andersen & Company, and president and CEO of Loeb Rhoades Securities Corporation, a company that was later merged into Lehman Brothers.

Michael was chairman and CEO of American Capital Markets Group since 1993 and, at the beginning of last year, became a general partner at Life Science Equity Partners LLC, a $150 million fund investing primarily in mid- to later-stage life science companies operating in North America and internationally.

Prior to joining Chase, Michael was a naval aviation officer in the U.S. Navy, in which he did a tour of duty in South Vietnam. He served on the board of directors of the Flying Tiger Historical Organization and was active in efforts to preserve the Battleship Iowa when it was mothballed in Suisun Bay, near San Francisco.

Michael was active in community service, serving as a director of the Korean-American Chamber of Commerce, a national director of Junior Achievement and the Enterprise Network of Silicon Valley, the largest private technology incubator in Silicon Valley.

After attending West Pittston High School, Michael received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Wilkes University and a Master of Public Administration at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Administration at the University of Michigan, prior to joining in Chase. He later participated in the senior management program at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

Michael was married to the former Marcia Schroeder for 47 years. He is survived by his wife; three children; two grandchildren; and a brother, Joseph and his wife, Lynn, Naples, Florida.

He will be strongly missed by his family, colleagues, friends and the many people whose lives he so positively touched.