William White's brother

I forget his first name but Bills brother was a high level executive in E-L. Did he survive to the Fishwick era?

Gary (Garrett) C. White was the brother of William White. He did not even last into his brother's reign retiring out on March 31, 1963. Probably instigated by the recruitment of Bill, who is rumored would not take the job unless his brother was gone. I think at the time G.C. White was well into his '60's anyway.
There was another Gary White, off the DL&W who was something like VP Transportation. G.O. White if I recall. He left at merger or shortly after as being a DL&W man on the new EL was not good for the career and probably two Gary Whites was one too many. The DL&W Gary White went to a trucking company, Consolidated Freightways I think. No known relation between G.O. and the White brothers that I am aware of. G.O. White was very well thought of by many on the DL&W and in the transportation industry...... not so much for G.C. White.

Having read H. Roger Grant's Death of an American Railroad, and discussed the Gary White departure with former EL employees from the management side, I wouldn't be too sure the departure of Gary White had anything to do with the hiring of his brother as CEO.

Wyer, Dick & Co., the consulting firm, was hired by Erie Lackawanna in October 1962 to study the road and make recommendations on how to stem rising losses. In H. Roger Grant's Death of an American Railroad, in an interview with one of the consultants, Charles Shannon told Grant there was a lot of friction between the consultants and Gary White who was the operating vice president. White did not want to implement many changes. He was old-school; his attitude was, "We need more traffic, that will solve everything." He was also from the Erie side and supposed to be very hostile to former Lackawanna people. The final straw, according to Shannon, was Gary White refusing to close or consolidate station agencies. White was forced out as operating vice president effective March 31, 1963 (as stated above) and replaced by Fred Diegtel as operating vice president on April 9. The decision to try and recruit William White was apparently agreed upon at a meeting between Wyer, Dick people and the executive committee of the board of directors that month, April 1963.

It was not until May 3, 1963 that William White asked ICC permission to serve as EL Chairman and CEO while simultaneously serving as Delaware & Hudson's Chairman. Permission was granted and White took over Erie Lackawanna on June 18, 1963.

Ironically, Fred Diegtel was from the Lackawanna and served as operating vice president throughout William White's tenure on Erie Lackawanna.

Wyer Dick was very influential in the original EL study pre-merger which initially involved William White and the D&H. I have heard that White was in close contact with former DL&W and EL directors from about 1956 onward for various reasons, some business related and other apparently more personal. I believe that one of the EL directors and White were talking informally as early as early 1963, if not late 1962. William and Gary in any event apparently did not get along well as has been related to me over the years. However, the above post timeline is correct and I cannot back it up with fact, but have been told over the years that if William took the job, he would not serve with his brother, Gary would be gone.

It is too bad that William passed on when he did, he appeared to be a very capable executive.

Diegtel was also a very capable man.