FINANCIER ‘SUICIDE’
Buyout billionaire Lee at 5th Ave. office
Billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound at his Manhattan office Thursday morning, police sources said.
Cops responded to a 911 call at 767 Fifth Ave. — where Thomas H. Lee Capital is located on the sixth floor — at around 11:10 a.m., the sources said.
EMTs pronounced the 78-yearold investor dead at the scene. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the official cause of death.
“The family is extremely saddened by Tom’s death,” Lee family friend and spokesperson Michael Sitrick said in a statement.
“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.
“Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve.”
A front-desk worker at Lee’s office building was told there was an “emergency” on the sixth floor, but was unaware of Lee’s death.
“They don’t want anyone going to that space right now, not even the building staff,” the man said.
Lee is credited with being one of the first financiers to purchase companies with money borrowed against it — what is now called a leveraged buyout. The Harvard graduate founded Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. in 1974, serving as the chairman and CEO of the company and its predecessors.
In 1992, the private equity pioneer bought Snapple — then sold it two years later for $1.7 billion, making 32 times his investment.
Lee and his longtime partners split in 2005, with Thomas H. Lee Partners being run by Scott Sperling and Lee leaving to form Lee Equity Partners.
At the time of his death, Lee’s net worth was estimated to be $2 billion, according to Forbes.
Lee was a known philanthropist, particularly for the arts and education. He sat as a trustee for several Big Apple art organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
“I’ve been lucky to make some money. I’m more than happy to give some of it back,” Lee said in 1996 after donating $22 million to Harvard, one of the school’s largest gifts ever from a living alumnus.
For his lifetime of philanthropy, he received the UJA-Federation’s award — named after Jack Nash, who helped create the modern hedge fund business — in 2014.
Lee leaves behind his wife of 27 years, Ann Tennenbaum. He is survived by his children Jesse, Zach, Nathan, Robbie and Rosalie, as well as two grandchildren.