As chairman, cofounder and largest shareholder, Maurice McAlister imperiously ruled Newport Beach-based Downey Financial, ousting his CEO biennially and otherwise throwing his weight around. He is one of the few to ever pull advertising from the Business Journal over a story,a mostly positive profile that angered McAlister because it noted his penchant for firing CEOs. (Ironically, the new CEO pictured with him in that story was gone within months.) But nothing vindicates behavior like success, and for many years McAlister had plenty of it at Downey. The lender boomed during the housing spurt that began in the mid-1990s. With the consolidation of the banking industry it survived and grew into one of the largest depository institutions still based in California. But the same wrong-way bets on mortgage loans that have brought down lenders in OC and elsewhere now have hammered Downey, and McAlister’s legacy. He won’t be firing any more CEOs,last week McAlister himself was shown the door as he stepped down from the board of his troubled company.
,Rick Reiff
