Wasserstein dead (the guy that made Rahm Emanuel a multi-millionaire)

NY POST ^ | 10/15/09 | MARK DeCAMBRE, PAUL THARP and JOSH KOSMAN

[Liz]

Wall Street bids adieu to famed Lazard dealmaker: Bruce Wasserstein died at age 61 after being hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat....the exact cause could not be determined. A Brooklyn native, Wasserstein amassed a fortune of about $2.3B doling out merger advice to players Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman. According to former Lazard banker, William Cohan, author of "The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres," Wasserstein made more money from investment banking than anyone else on Wall Street. "While everyone else was fighting the Vietnam War, he was studying English takeover law at Cambridge." Lazard Deputy Chairman Jeffrey Rosen saw him slightly differently: ".....one who will be remembered as having the greatest impact on the investment banking business over the last 30 years." Just nine months ago, Wasserstein took his fourth wife, shipping heiress Angela Chao, 29 (sister Elaine was Labor Secy for George W. Bush). One of five children of wealthy textile executive Morris Wasserstein, his grandfather was acclaimed Polish playwright Simon Schleifer; his sister was Pulitzer Prize playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who died in 2006. A graduate of U of Michigan, Wasserstein earned a law degree and MBA at Harvard. He started as a lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, but switched to investment banking.

[stephenjohnbanker]

P I N G

[Landru]

"...the exact cause could not be determined."

Here we go, deja vu all over again.
The Clintigula *legacy* continues.

Thanks, Liz.
WTH would we all do without you. :^)

[Major Matt Mason]

He was a friend of Rahm's? So long to bad, anti-American rubbish, then.

[Mamzelle]

(sob sob)...

[Liz]

I share your sorrow. I’m all broke up about it, myself (bawl).

[Liz]

WTH would we all do without you------too horrible to even contemplate (blush).

[Landru]

"...too horrible to even contemplate (blush)."

May I suggest we not, then?

Contemplating your continued good fight's a much more pleasant thought; or, it 'tis for some of us fellas admiring your work from a distance. ;^)

[Liz]

....billionaire marries 29 yr old and dies 9 months later under mysterious circumstances....

I just hope he didn't OD on Viagra.

Wasserstein and number four.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“I just hope he didn’t OD on Viagra. “

Methinks he died with a smile on his face ;-)

[Liz]

Emanuel had brought the idea to GTCR to purchase SecurityLink......and his strong relationship with executives at SBC helped keep it alive. It was a troubled transaction that nearly collapsed when the venture capital company could not get financing. ” Rahm was relentless," said David Donnini, the GTCR principal who worked on the deal....“ calling almost every day, throwing out ideas to make it work, some crazy, some not.” Under a regulatory deadline to divest, SBC financed all but $100 million of GTCR’s $479 million purchase of the firm. Less than six months later, GTCR resold the company for $1 billion, earning a quick $500 million on its investment.

Six months later----a $500M profit ? Has to be fiduciary negligence there---failure to conduct due diligence about the company's real worth. Creditors and stockholders were shafted, unless they were offered a stake in the new entity.

[Liz]

Awwww, gee......that’s so sweet (dimples up).

[maggief]

Who’s the lucky bride distracting 61-year-old billionaire New York owner Bruce Wasserstein from the troubles of the media business? She’s Angela Chao, a politically connected 35-year-old shipping magnate.

Cityfile has the scoop on Chao: She’s the sister of Bush’s Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, a registered Republican, and an executive at her father James Chao’s Foremost Group, a shipping and trade concern. (She attends a lot of trade conferences, like the one at which this less-than-flattering photo was taken.) She’s smart: graduated Harvard in three years, then went to Harvard Business School, and worked in investment banking at Smith Barney. She seems lovely! So why did Wasserstein keep his wedding a secret? Was he worried about seeming like another weird old rich dude dating a younger Asian woman? Or was he worried that the Democratic politicians to whom he gives so much money wouldn’t like hearing about her politics?

http://gawker.com/5146687/bruce-wassersteins-secret-asian-bride-revealed

[litehaus]

BTTT 4 RAHMBO ALERT !