Edson Mitchell, a key figure in the development of the thriving capital markets groups of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Deutsche Bank, died in a small-plane crash in Maine on December 22, on his way to celebrate Christmas at his vacation home.

Mitchell played a pivotal role in derailing Deutsche Bank's $29.5 billion proposed merger with Dresdner Bank last March. As head of Deutsche Bank's global markets group in London, he was among those who argued successfully against the deal, which would have created the world's largest bank. The linkup was called off in April. In June Mitchell and colleague Michael Phillip became the first Americans ever appointed to the Vorstand of 130-year-old Deutsche Bank. Mitchell was widely expected to succeed Josef Ackermann at the helm of the bank's investment banking group in 2002.

Mitchell is credited with transforming Deutsche Bank's global markets group from a laggard into a powerhouse in bond trading, securities underwriting and foreign currencies. "The robust foundations and management structures he has laid in his field of responsibility, and his visionary strategic contributions, will continue to serve the bank in the future," Deutsche Bank chief executive Rolf-Ernst Breuer said in a statement.

Before joining the German bank, Mitchell worked for 15 years as a banker at Merrill Lynch. "There was no one better in our business at producing revenue or running a business on Wall Street," says Roger Vasey, who hired Mitchell for Merrill's money market group in 1980. "Edson was one of the very few, key people who built Merrill into the fixed-income powerhouse it became in the ,80s and ,90s."

Mitchell, said Breuer, "was admired by all for his great sense of leadership, his dedication to the bank,s vision and his deep commitment to the people he worked with."