David Bonderman

David Bonderman, the colorful yet publicity-shy co-founder of Fort Worth-based private equity titan TPG Inc. who became a billionaire by spearheading massive company takeovers, bailouts of foundering enterprises and splashy investments in startups, died on Wednesday December 11 2024 He spent two years teaching law at Tulane University in New Orleans and worked briefly in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department in the waning months of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. After studying Arabic and Islamic law in Tunis and Cairo, he was hired by the prominent Washington law firm Arnold & Porter in 1971. One of his successful preservation battles — against rebuilding and widening an elevated interstate interchange in Fort Worth — was on behalf of a local group led by Robert Bass, one of four wealthy dealmaking brothers, and his wife, Anne. Impressed, Bass hired Bonderman — and his thin resume in high finance — in 1983 to lead his private investing arm. The family office’s team boasted other future deal-industry luminaries, including Coulter; Tom Barrack, who became chairman of real estate investor Colony Capital Inc.; and John Grayken, who went on to lead private equity firm Lone Star Funds. David Bonderman was a founding partner of TPG. Prior to forming TPG in 1992, Mr. Bonderman was chief operating officer of the Robert M. Bass Group in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to joining RMBG in 1983, he was a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in corporate, securities, bankruptcy and antitrust litigation. Mr. Bonderman served on the boards of the following companies: Caesars Entertainment Corporation, CoStar Group, General Motors Company, JSC VTB Bank and Ryanair Holdings, the latter of which he was also chairman. He also served on the boards of The Wilderness Society, the Grand Canyon Trust, the University of Washington Foundation and the American Himalayan Foundation. Bonderman led founding ownership group of the Seattle Kraken, which joined the National Hockey League in 2021. The following year, his daughter, Samantha Holloway, became a co-owner and succeeded him as chair of the franchise’s executive committee. Bonderman also was part of the ownership syndicate of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. With his wife, Laurie Michaels, a clinical psychologist and philanthropist, Bonderman had five children.