Billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee found by an assistant with a gunshot wound to the head
>
A New York billionaire financier who committed suicide on the job has been found dead in the bathroom of his Manhattan office by his assistant with his revolver at his side.
Thomas H. Lee, 78, died of an apparent suicide in his office at his Fifth Avenue headquarters in New York shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday.
The Harvard grad had a net worth of approximately $2 billion at the time of his death, according to Forbes.
According to the New York Post, sources revealed that Lee’s assistant made the shocking discovery after she went looking for him when his associates were unable to contact him.
First responders found Lee lying on his side with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and he was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. when lifesaving efforts by paramedics were unsuccessful. It is currently unclear why Lee took his own life.
Billionaire financier and investor Thomas H. Lee, 78, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday. He shows up at his Manhattan offices with what is believed to be the famous Jeff Koons Gazing Ball artwork, which has an estimated value of up to $60,000.
Thomas H. Lee, 78, pictured here with his wife Ann Tenenbaum in 2019, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday.
New York police responded to 767 Fifth Avenue, where Thomas H. Lee Capital, LLC is located on the sixth floor, around 11:10 a.m. and found Lee’s body, it was reported.
The financier rose to fame by acquiring mid-sized companies, restoring their value and then selling them off for massive profits, and his success led to him being dubbed the “envy of Wall Street.”
After graduating from Harvard in 1965, he first worked as a securities analyst for the research department of LF Rothschild & Company.
He later transitioned into banking, working for First National Bank of Boston, where he rose to the position of vice president and led the bank’s high-tech lending group.
Nearly a decade into his finance career, he founded his firm Lee Equity in 1974. During this time, he was recognized as an early pioneer in private equity and specifically leveraged buyouts.
He was best known for selling Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1992, which he initially acquired for $135 million. After investing $28 million in the business, he grew the company’s revenue from $95 million to $750 million a year, before later selling it.
His leveraged buyout deals were legendary in the 1990s: pioneering financial transactions that enabled his company, in some cases, to produce profits of more than 30 times in a matter of years.
He reportedly went by the self-assigned nickname ‘Tomcat’, which he revealed at a 2014 event because he had ‘nine different lives’.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, a resident of Lee’s building board of directors, who had known the financier for 23 years, said Lee was known among those he met for having a “great sense of humour”.
“He was a fantastic guy,” he said. I am as surprised as anyone. He was an extraordinary person, very successful and with a lovely family.
“He was very positive, very friendly, just a very nice guy… He always had a laugh, always saw the humor in everything, a great entertainer.”
Following the news of Lee’s suicide, family spokesman Michael Sitrick released a statement: “The family is extremely saddened by Tom’s death.
āWhile the world knew him as one of the pioneers in the private equity business and a successful businessman, we knew him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, friend, and philanthropist who always put the needs of others first. yours.
‘Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve.”
A 1997 Forbes profile described him as “that weird thing on Wall Street, a really nice guy.”
Best known for the $1.7 billion sale of Snapple in 1992, Lee, left, made his name on Wall Street as a prominent Manhattan financier during a lucrative career.
Lee is shown golfing with then-President Bill Clinton on Martha’s Vineyard in 1999.
Lee with former NBC host Matt Lauer and socialite Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo in 2005
Lee was known for owning one of the most lucrative houses in East Hampton, New York.
A source who knew Lee told The Post that he was known for his business savvy and claimed he was the inspiration for Oliver Stone’s ‘Blue Horseshoe Loves Anacott Steel’ from the hit film ‘Wall Street’.
The claim references the secret body language code used by the character Gordon Gekko throughout the blockbuster.
Despite his ruthless reputation, the source also described the billionaire as “one of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met.”
Throughout his career, he has invested more than $15 billion in hundreds of transactions.
In 2010, a fund controlled by Lee was sued by a trustee seeking to recover money defrauded by notorious con artist Bernie Madoff.
He was also known as a respected art collector and was connected to New York’s elite powerhouses, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Lee reportedly allowed the couple to stay at his mansion in East Hampton, New York, after Hillary’s failed 2008 presidential run. Their Hamptons home was known as one of the most prominent in the area.
As a philanthropist and trustee, the billionaire served on the boards of many organizations, including the Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, Brandeis University, Harvard University and the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Lee was married twice, first to Barbara Fish Lee, in 1968. They had two sons, Zach and Robbie, before divorcing in 1995.
He married his second wife Ann Tenenbaum of Savannah, Georgia in 1997 and they had three children: Jesse, Nathan, and Rosalie. He was also survived by two grandchildren.