Remembering Larry Bossidy, 1935-2025 7/23/25

0:04Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We're live from the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Andrew Ross Sorkin. Joe is out today. Some sad news about a longtime friend of Squawk Box. Larry Bossidy has died at age 90. The former chairman and CEO of Honeywell was one of the first corporate leaders to guest host Squawk Box back in the 1990s. He joined us on the air many times, sharing his perspective and peppering guests with questions until just a few years ago. As a boy in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Bossidy dreamed of being a professional baseball player and was scouted by the Detroit Tigers when he was in high school.

0:45He attended Colgate on an athletic scholarship and joined General Electric back in 1957. He spent more than 30 years there as a key player building the GE we'd come to know. He had a successful stint as CEO at manufacturer Allied Signal in the 1990s, which then merged with Honeywell, making him the chairman of the combined company. And when he returned as CEO after a failed merger with GE, cementing his reputation as a corporate turnaround artist. He also served on a number of blue chip corporate boards like JP Morgan and Merck. And insights from those experience made him a valued addition to our conversations right here on Squawk Box.

1:25Larry and his wife, Nancy, had nine children, and we extend our condolences to his entire beloved family, which included dozens of grandchildren. He was a man of loyalty and integrity, both in business and more importantly, in life. And he was a dear friend to us here. In fact, the most, Joe Kernan, who joins us right now on the phone. And Joe, I know this one hit you pretty hard. It did. It did. Hey, Kate, Andrew, I knew Larry for over 30 years, both professionally and as a friend and a golf buddy. And he was simply the best. He had a big presence. Everybody knows that. He was good-looking. At least I thought so.

2:03Good-looking. And he led. He led in whatever setting with such charisma and forthright resolve. And what a sense of humor and love of life. He especially loved his wife Nancy, his kids, and all of his grandkids. Many, many grandkids. And as he used to tell us, you guys probably remember, he knew all their names, but maybe not all their birthdays. But that was a while ago. He probably ended up learning all their birthdays by now, I would imagine. And he also loved this country, and he loved American business, and he loved the companies that he worked for and that he eventually led right down to his core.

2:42And, God, he was funny. He was so funny. if you got him laughing, he'd get going and be laughing so hard you didn't know if he was going to be able to stop. And everyone knows this, I think. He might have been the fastest human to ever play the game of golf and the most competitive. When I had the privilege of going on a golf outing with him to a great place, whether it was back here in the Northeast or somewhere down South, he had a tendency to monitor my wine intake the night before at dinner. Kind of kidding. Kind of. But it was just in case I was going to be his partner the next morning, even if it was just for one of the nine hole matches out of the 36 holes.

3:23He didn't want anyone dragging around the course. And no one dragged because to get around the course in two and a half hours, well, we needed to be the first off the tee, which meant we needed to be the first to order breakfast in the dining room. So we could be the first on the range. Frost delays were a complete nightmare for Larry. He even used to recommend decaf for me so I would not get the yips. He was as competitive as the day is long. He was handsome. He was truly a man's man. I always told him he reminded me of the great actor Bill Holden in Bridge on the River Kwai. I thought he looked like him.

4:02He just did, and I told him, and he always laughed. I have incredible memories and will miss him a lot. And he's truly one of the men in my life that I admired everything about him. Joe, I can hear you tearing up as you're talking about this. And I know he meant a lot to all of us, but especially to you because you spent so much time with him. You knew him so well. We talked a little bit yesterday, you and I, just about some of the things that he cared so much about, that he opened up about here on the set because he was a three-dimensional person, a stalwart leader, a very competitive guy, but also a guy with a really big heart.

4:48He was a huge philanthropist, too, at the Inner City Foundation, Sanctity Fund. And there was one time when I was trying to do some things, and I called a lot of the really well-heeled people we needed to try and help me with the charity. And Larry stepped up immediately. He was a special guy. He was a hard ass. He was fantastic. You know why he was so great at leading and at business. And all you've got to do is pull any of the tapes of him as a guest host. And he wanted it a certain way. And like I said, out of all the men I've met in my life, he's one I truly, truly admire. Just about every aspect.

5:31I just want to say, Joe is not always an emotional guy. And so to have this emotion, Joe, it's great to hear from you, but also just to hear your, you know, we all saw Larry in his fulsome glory, oftentimes sitting here giving some of us a hard time, depending on the day and what the issues were. But he was a man of heart. You should have seen if I let him down or if anybody on the golf course. He was so competitive and he was good. And he was a man on a five foot putt. If he needed to make a five foot putt, you could pretty much just bank on it because he would do it. Played with him many, many, many times, probably 10, 12, 15 times for a couple of days at a time.

6:16He was awesome. And again, as you mentioned, tough guy. But man, led with his heart, led with his faith and always put his family first, which we all completely, completely admire and appreciate. Mm-hmm.