NYC billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee, 78, found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
Billionaire financier, 78, is found dead inside Fifth Avenue office: Investor – who was friends with Clintons – died from self-inflicted gunshot wound – as family say ‘our hearts are broken’
- Thomas H. Lee, 78, was found dead at his office in Manhattan on Thursday
- The billionaire financier had a self-inflicted gunshot wound, it was reported
- Lee had a net worth of roughly $2 billion at the time of his death
A billionaire financier and investor was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his office in New York City.
The death of Thomas H. Lee, 78, was confirmed by his family in a statement released on Thursday.
Police discovered Lee’s body around 11:10 a.m. at his office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan – where his business Thomas H. Lee Capital, LLC is located.
Lee had a net worth of roughly $2 billion at the time of his death, according to Forbes.
Billionaire financier and investor Thomas H. Lee, 78, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Thursday
Lee’s death was confirmed by his family in a statement released on Thursday. He’s pictured with his second wife Ann Tenenbaum at the 57th New York Film Festival in 2019
Lee was the founder and chairman of Lee Equity and had served as chairman and CEO of Thomas H. Lee Partners, according to the Lee Equity website.
He founded his firm in 1974, and is credited with being one of the early pioneers in private equity and specifically leveraged buyouts.
The businessman may be best known for the sale of Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1994, and then selling it two years later for $1.7 billion, a return of 32 times equity.
Lee resigned from Thomas H. Lee Partners in 2006 and later that year formed Lee Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused more on growth capital transactions than the leveraged buyouts favored by THL, it was reported.
Just last week, today announced the appointment of former Willis Towers Watson CEO John Haley as an Executive Partner in the firm’s Financial Technology and Services investment group. Haley has also been appointed to the board of THL portfolio company AmeriLife Group, LLC (“AmeriLife”), a national leader in marketing and distributing life, health, annuities and retirement planning solutions.
The NYPD 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
Lee has been married twice – first to Barbara Fish Lee, in 1968, but they divorced in 1995. His second wife was Ann Tenenbaum of Savannah, Georgia. Lee has five children.
Lee and Babara had two children Zach and Robbie. She is a philanthropist who has been listed as one of ‘Boston’s Most Powerful Thought Leaders,’ as well as one of ‘The 100 People Who Run This Town’.
Lee was a good friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and in June 2008, following Hillary’s unsuccessful presidential run, the couple reportedly stayed at his East Hampton home.
Family friend and spokesperson Michael Sitrick released a statement about Lee’s death on Thursday on behalf of the family:
‘The family is extremely saddened by Tom’s death. While 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, sibling, friend and philanthropist who always put others’ needs before his own.
The statement continued: ‘Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve.’