Bruce Jay Wasserstein (December 25, 1947 – October 14, 2009) was an American investment banker, businessman, and writer. He was prominent in the

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

industry, credited with working on 1,000 transactions with a total value of approximately $250 billion.

Early life and education

Wasserstein was born and raised in

Midwood, Brooklyn Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, ...

, New York, the son of Lola (née Schleifer) and Morris Wasserstein. His father, a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrant from pre-World War II Poland, settled in New York City and started a ribbon company. His maternal grandfather was Simon Schleifer, a Jewish teacher in the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

in Wloclawek, Poland who later immigrated to

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

–winning playwright

Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...

(whose daughter, Lucy Jane, he was raising at the time of his death); Abner Wasserstein (died 2011); and Georgette Levis (died 2014), who was married to psychiatrist Albert J. Levis. Wasserstein attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush for high school. He was a graduate of the McBurney School,

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

, and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, and spent a year at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

Starting his career as an attorney at

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath; ) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm has additional offices in London and Washington, D.C. History In 1854, former college classmates William H. Seward (la ...

, Wasserstein then moved to First Boston Corp. in 1977 and eventually rose to co-head of that company's then-dominant

merger and acquisition Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

practice. In 1988, with colleague Joseph Perella, he left First Boston to form

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

boutique Wasserstein Perella & Co., which he sold in 2000, at the top of the late 1990s bull market, to Germany's

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

for around $1.4 billion in stock. In 2002, he left the unit

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein SG Kleinwort Hambros is a private bank owned by Société Générale that offers financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Gibraltar. History In June 2016, Société Générale acquired Kleinwort Benson ...

(formed by merging Dresdner's United Kingdom unit

Kleinwort Benson Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in ...

with Wasserstein Perella) to become head of the financial services firm

Lazard Lazard Inc. (formerly known as Lazard Ltd and Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It i ...

. In 2005, he led the

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

of Lazard and became the public firm's first chairman and CEO. Wasserstein controlled Wasserstein & Co., a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm with investments in a number of industries, particularly media. In 2004, he added ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

'' to his media empire. In July 2007, he sold

American Lawyer Media ALM (formerly American Lawyer Media) is a media company headquartered in the Socony–Mobil Building in Manhattan, and is a provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal, insurance, and commercial real es ...

Incisive Media Incisive Media is a Business-to-business financial company. It is based in London, England. History Incisive Media is a business-to-business (B2B) financial company founded by Tim Weller, in 1994 with the launch of '' Investment Week''. It ac ...

for about $630 million in cash. He was credited with the term " Pac-Man defense", which is used by targeted companies during a

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...

attempt.

Philanthropy

In 2007, Wasserstein made a $25 million donation to

, for the creation of a large academic wing of the school's Northwest Corner complex, which was named Wasserstein Hall.

Net worth

According to Forbes, as of September 17, 2008, Wasserstein's net worth was estimated to be $2.3 billion. As of 2008, he owned an apartment at 927 Fifth Avenue in New York City, an estate in Santa Barbara in California, an Atlantic oceanfront estate in East Hampton (Long Island), a house at 38

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for ...

in London, and another apartment in Paris.

Personal life

Wasserstein was married four times and has seven biological children:New York Daily News: "Bruce Wasserstein, Lazard CEO and New York owner, dies at 61" By Helen Kennedy
October 14, 2009 *Laura Lynelle Killin (married 1968, divorced 1974). *Christine Parrott (divorced 1992). They had three children: Ben, Pam and Scoop. Christine is a

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

and has since remarried to American journalist and

newspaper publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Dan Rattiner. *Claude Becker (married 1996, divorced 2008). They had two sons: Jack and Dash. Prior to her marriage to Wasserstein, Claude was an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning CBS news producer. After Bruce's death Claude took in Lucy, his sister Wendy's daughter. * Angela Chao (married 2009, up until Wasserstein's death). She was the sister of

Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transpor ...

, who is married to U.S. Senator

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...

. *In addition, Wasserstein had a daughter with Erin McCarthy, a Columbia University administrator, Sky Wasserstein (born 2008). Wasserstein's political position was liberal. He was involved with media since high school and college, when he was an editor on his high school newspaper, ''The McBurneian'' (McBurney School, New York), and later at the

'' Michigan Daily'', then served an internship at ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine. Inspired by

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

, he was one of "Nader's Raiders" for a brief length of time.

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

and

Vernon Jordan Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (August 15, 1935 – March 1, 2021) was an American business executive and civil rights attorney who worked for various civil rights movement organizations before becoming a close advisor to President Bill Clinton. Jo ...

were employed by Wasserstein for a few years.Teitelman, Robert

''Time'' magazine, November 2, 2009, "Bruce Wasserstein" Wasserstein also served as trustee for the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from 2001 until his death.

Death

On October 11, 2009, Wasserstein was admitted to a hospital with an irregular heartbeat. It was originally reported that his condition was serious, but that he was stable and recovering. However, Wasserstein died in Manhattan three days later, on October 14, at the age of 61.

Books

* * * *

References

External links

"Wasserstein Haunts Harry & David in Buyout Doomed to Bankruptcy..."

"King of the Barbarians arrives at the Pearly Gates"

"Bruce Wasserstein dies at 61"

Wasserstein & Co. site

Wasserstein was editor on high school newspaper The McBurneian

Wasserstein went from Nader acolyte to Wall Street legend
in the '' Harvard Law Record'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasserstein, Bruce 1947 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American philanthropists American billionaires American business writers American chief executives of financial services companies American economics writers American finance and investment writers American financiers American investment bankers American legal writers American male non-fiction writers American money managers American people of Polish-Jewish descent Businesspeople from New York City Cravath, Swaine & Moore people Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American bankers People from Midwood, Brooklyn Philanthropists from New York (state) Private equity and venture capital investors The Michigan Daily alumni University of Michigan alumni Writers from Brooklyn 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Chao family