JPMorgan CEO Dimon has emergency heart surgery, recovering

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon underwent emergency heart surgery Thursday but is recovering, according to the comp;any

Dimon was awake and alert following the surgery, according to a message the nation’s largest bank, as measured by assets, sent to its more than 250,000 employees.

The New York bank said Dimon, who formerly was CEO of the old, Chicago-based Bank One, was stricken Thursday morning with an acute aortic dissection. That occurs when blood leaks through a tear in the inner layer of the aorta — the large artery that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.

“He underwent successful emergency heart surgery to repair the dissection,” the bank’s message to employees said. “The good news is that it was caught early and the surgery was successful. He is awake, alert and recovering well.”

The bank’s co-presidents, Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith, will lead its operations while Dimon recuperates, JPMorgan said.

Dimon, who turns 64 next week, is one of the nation’s most influential CEOs. He took over as JPMorgan’s chief executive in 2006 and steered the bank through the financial crisis of 2008.

He had a health scare in July 2014, when he disclosed he was battling throat cancer. The treatment was successful, and Dimon said he was cancer free in December of that year.