Paul Calello | Led investment bank, 49

Paul Calello, 49, who as head of Credit Suisse Group AG's investment bank, managed the unit through the financial crisis and helped build the company's operations in Asia, died Tuesday.

Mr. Calello died in New York of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the bank said in a statement. He stepped down as chief executive officer of the Zurich-based company's investment bank in September 2009 to undergo treatment for cancer. Mr. Calello relinquished his title almost 10 months later to acting CEO Eric Varvel and became chairman of the unit.

Mr. Calello and Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan were part of the Bankers Trust Corp. team that left in 1990 to start Credit Suisse Financial Products, a derivatives subsidiary of the Swiss bank. Dougan and Mr. Calello ascended the ranks as derivatives - contracts with values derived from assets or events - became an increasingly important money-maker for Wall Street.

Mr. Calello stood out as a leader during the financial crisis by advising the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on policy matters and reforming Credit Suisse's compensation system, said Glenn Hubbard, who was chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisors from 2001 to 2003 and now is dean of Columbia University's business school.

Mr. Calello "loved the people side of the business, which is a little bit unusual for a guy who grows up as a trader who knows the technical side and the math side as well," said Wilson Ervin, a senior adviser to Dougan. "He loved jumping into new things."

Mr. Calello grew up in Boston and received a bachelor's degree in economics from Villanova University in 1983 and an M.B.A. from Columbia in 1997. - Bloomberg News