Lorenzo D Weisman

Passed away peacefully on September 22nd 2012 in New York City, aged 67, surrounded by his family. Lorenzo was born in 1945 to French Jewish parents in Guatemala City, where he was raised until moving to the US to attend Moses Brown School as a young teenager. Guatemala remained an important spiritual home for him throughout his life and informed his lifelong interest in Pre-Columbian art. Following his graduation from Harvard College (AB '66), Lorenzo moved to Paris to pursue his passion for the theater. He became an actor in 'La Comedie Francaise,' where he studied with some of the great French actors of his time. It's also in Paris where he fell in love with Danielle-Camille (“Stanley”) Maysonnave, his beautiful and loving wife of 41 years. In 1971, in order to develop the skills to open his own theater company, Lorenzo attended Columbia Business School (MBA '73). It's there that he discovered his unexpected calling in business. In 1973 he joined investment bank Dillon, Read & Co., where he built his career for over 25 years, working on cross-border M&A and advisory deals in a variety of sectors worldwide. He moved to London in 1977 to run the firm's European operations for 16 years. In 2001, Lorenzo co-founded Hill Street Capital, a boutique investment bank in New York City, which was subsequently acquired by BNP Paribas in 2010. Lorenzo was a keen sailor and competed in the Newport to Bermuda Race with his son four times. He also remained passionate about Latin America and the arts throughout his life. Lorenzo was chairman of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard, chairman of the French Institute/Alliance Francaise in New York and a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia Business School. In 2008 Lorenzo was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by the French government for helping to advance French culture in the United States. Lorenzo is survived by his wife, Stanley; three children, Melissa, Alexia and Thomas; six grandchildren, Oscar, Clementine, Felix, Louis, Annabelle and Samantha; his son-in-laws, Arthur Ceria and Mark Peck; and his sister, Anne Mazet.