Mr. Wasserstein, who began his career as a lawyer but quickly moved into the more lucrative field of investment banking, worked on some of the biggest deals of the last three decades, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’s takeover of RJR Nabisco, immortalized in the book and movie “Barbarians at the Gate.”
He also became a member of New York’s social firmament, buying New York magazine, a prominent publication that chronicles the city and its major players. Mr. Wasserstein rarely looked like a stereotypical investment banker, preferring a rumpled look, his shirt often untucked. But he transformed deal-making from a business built on relationships, as practiced by forebears like André Meyer and Felix G. Rohatyn of Lazard, into one more akin to war, built on complex tactics and armies of bankers and lawyers.
Mr. Wasserstein is survived by his wife, Angela Chao, an executive at her family’s shipping company and the sister of Elaine Chao, the former labor secretary, and seven children. He adopted the daughter of his sister, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who died in 2006. He was divorced three times. « less
Family
Elaine Chao
Secretary of Labor under George W Bush
Angela Chao
Senior vice president of Foremost Maritime Co
James S C Chao
Chairman of Foremost Group in New York
Mitch McConnell
US Senator from Kentucky
Business Positions
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Sold to Dresdner Bank in 2000
Lazard Ltd
investment bank
Credit Suisse (USA), Inc.
US subsidiary of swiss finance company
Education
Harvard University
Elite private university located in Cambridge, MA
Donation/Grant Recipients
1-10 of 32 :: see all
Al Franken
US Senator from Minnesota
Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State
Chuck Schumer
US Representative and Senator from New York
Rahm Emanuel
Mayor of Chicago: Former White House Chief of Staff
Erskine B Bowles
Bill Clinton's chief of staff from 1996-1998; Senior Advisor at...
