UNITED STATES: Thomas Lee, a US billionaire financier who helped develop the leveraged buyout, a debt-fueled corporate acquisition, has died. His family confirmed the news to media officials. Thomas H. Lee’s family said that they were “extremely saddened” by the billionaire’s death.
A source confirmed that he died in Manhattan of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Thursday morning at 767 Fifth Avenue, where the offices of Thomas Lee Capital LLC are located. Lee’s net worth was worth $2 billion at the time of his death.
The medical examiner has not yet determined what caused Lee’s death; therefore, the police spokesman would not confirm that the gunshot was to blame. According to the police, they responded to a 911 call from someone inside the Fifth Avenue office at 11 on Thursday morning.
They also stated that “upon arrival, EMS [Emergency Medical Services] responded and pronounced the individual deceased at the scene.”
While the world knew him as a pioneer in the private equity industry and a successful businessman, family friend Michael Sitrick said, “We knew him as a loving spouse, father, grandpa, sibling, friend, and philanthropist who always placed others’ needs before his own.”
Aside from his pioneering leveraged buyout, Lee was also known for acquiring beverage company Snapple in 1992. He sold the coffee company two years later to Quaker Oats for $1.7 billion, 32 times more than he bought it for.
Lee was a philanthropist and was a trustee for famous New York City art organisations such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Museum of Modern Art.
He donated $22 million to his alma mater, Harvard University, in 1996, which had also been used to give financial aid to students. During that time, he said, “I’ve had some luck earning some money. I’d be more than delighted to return some of it.”
His family now includes his wife, Ann Tenenbaum, and his five children.
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