[1] Parsky was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1942 to Jewish parents who were unable to attend college because of the depression.
[4] After working for three years for a Wall Street law firm, he was recruited to the United States Department of the Treasury in 1971.
[5] From 1977 until 1992, Parsky was affiliated with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he was a senior partner and a member of the executive and management committees.
[5] Appointed in 1996 to a twelve-year term as regent of the University of California, Parsky was elected unanimously by his peers to serve as their chairman.
Parsky oversaw the regents' governance of the university, including oversight and negotiations on behalf of the U.S. nuclear labs at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore, student admissions, expansion of the U.C.