Dee Hock, Banker Who Built Visa Credit-Card Empire, Dies at 93

Dee Hock, who turned an ailing credit-card venture into what would later become the payments giant Visa Inc., has died. He was 93.

Hock died over the weekend at his home in Olympia, Washington, Visa said Wednesday in a statement from Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly.

As an executive at the National Bank of Commerce in Seattle, Hock was tapped in 1968 to head a committee of licensees that would reorganize Bank of America’s credit-card business, then known as BankAmericard. He sought to improve operations in an industry that was near collapse from fraud and managerial ...