Toward Freer Circles

"I wish more freedom of personal action than I believe is in some circles deemed proper if I remain president of Prudential." So said Carrol M. Shanks, 62, announcing his resignation last week as boss of the giant Prudential Insurance Co. of America.

Earlier this year Shanks learned the hard way the limits on the personal actions of the man who publicly presides over the second-largest U.S. life insurance company (first: Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.). He made a personal deal with Georgia-Pacific Corp., a big Prudential borrower, to buy timber, then let a Georgia-Pacific subsidiary cut enough of it over five years to pay back the money Shanks had borrowed to buy the trees. With tax write-offs, capital gains and depletion allowances on his holdings, Shanks stood to make as much as $485,000 in savings on his income taxes. When the deal was made public, the furor touched off a New Jersey Banking and Insurance Department investigation, rocked reputable Prudential to its foundations. The commission found Shanks had violated no law, but Shanks dropped the deal anyway.

Now, as plain Carrol Shanks, he will be able to wheel and deal at will.