Alexander Navab

Alex Navab, a prominent financier who was once considered a potential successor to the Wall Street titans Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts, died on July 7 2019 while vacationing with his family in Greece. He was 53. Mr. Navab died unexpectedly, according to a statement by his investment firm, Navab Capital Partners. Mr. Navab left KKR in 2017, shortly after it named two other executives co-presidents — most likely the successors to Mr. Kravis and Mr. Roberts. He announced the creation of Navab Capital Partners in April 2019 and had begun recruiting executives from rivals like the Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus and KKR itself. ALEXANDER NAVAB (New York) joined KKR in 1993. He co-heads KKR’s Americas Private Equity business and co-heads the Media and Communications industry team in the U.S. Mr. Navab serves as the Global Co-Chair of the Private Equity Investment Committees and on KKR’s Special Situations Investment Committee. Mr. Navab played a significant role in the development of Borden, Intermedia Communications, IPREO, KSL Recreation, Neway Anchorlok, Newsquest Media, The Nielsen Company (formerly VNU Group), NuVox (NewSouth Communications), PanAmSat, RELTEC, Tenovis, Visant, Yellow Pages Group, Weld North, World Color Press, and Zhone Technologies. He is currently on the board of The Nielsen Company, Visant, and Weld North. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Navab was with James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated where he was involved in mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance advisory work. From 1987 to 1989, he was with Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he worked in the Investment Banking Department. He received a B.A. with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from Columbia College, and an M.B.A. with High Distinction, Baker Scholar, Wolfe Award, from Harvard Business School. He was a trustee at Columbia — to which he gave $6 million to fund internships for students — and a board member of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the Robin Hood Foundation, which works to combat poverty in New York City. Mr. Navab, who lived on Manhattan’s East Side, is survived by his wife, Mary Kathryn Navab, as well as his parents and three young children.