American billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee, thought of a pioneer of personal fairness funding and leveraged buyouts, died on the age of 78, his household mentioned on Thursday.
The New York Metropolis workplace of the chief medical expert mentioned on Friday the reason for demise was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the pinnacle.
Lee was found lifeless on Thursday morning at his Fifth Avenue Manhattan workplace, headquarters of his funding agency, when police responded to an emergency-911 name at round 11:10 a.m. (1610 GMT).
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“The household is extraordinarily saddened by Tom’s demise,” Lee’s household mentioned in an announcement. “Our hearts are damaged. We ask that our privateness be revered and that we be allowed to grieve.”
Lee was the founder and chairman of Lee Fairness, which he shaped in 2006, and beforehand served as chairman and CEO of Thomas H. Lee Companions, which he based in 1974, in accordance with a biographical assertion launched by his household.
Over the previous 46 years, Lee was liable for investing greater than $15 billion of capital in lots of of transactions, together with the acquisition and subsequent gross sales of such model names as Snapple Drinks and Warner Music.
He was also called a philanthropist and trustee who served on the boards of many organizations, together with the Lincoln Heart, the Museum of Fashionable Artwork, Brandeis College, Harvard College and the Museum of Jewish Heritage.