BANKING: A. P.’s Daughter

To succeed the late A. P. Giannini on the 25-member board of directors of his Bank of America, the directors last week picked slim, dark-eyed, olive-skinned Mrs. Claire Giannini Hoffman, 44, A.P.’s only daughter, longtime confidante and an executor of his $480,000 estate.

Like her brother, L. M. Giannini,* the bank’s president, Claire Giannini grew up in the shadow of fiery old A.P., who thought of little else except his business. As a child she traveled extensively with him, soaked up politics and economics. She attended Oakland’s Mills College for two years, then became A.P.’s private secretary.

Claire kept right on helping her father after her marriage in 1930 to blond Clifford (“Biff”) Hoffman, Stanford fullback and captain (1928). She also became a general (inactive) partner with a sizable interest in Biff’s brokerage firm, and the company got its share of Bank of America business. But Claire Hoffman never took a public part in her father’s bank or her husband’s business; she has spent much of her quiet life riding, playing golf (in the 90s) and helping the Y.W.C.A. Said brother L.M.: “She’s a good businesswoman … a hardheaded person, and she ought to be good on the board.” Said Claire: “I’m terrified.”

*Neither Claire nor L.M., a coexecutor, share in their father’s estate. The bulk, $430,000, will go to the Bank of America-Giannini Foundation, an educational fund for employees of the bank and other Giannini business connections. Various other charities will get $41,000, nine individuals $1,000 apiece.