Billionaire Thomas H. Lee’s family is said to be “suffering” after the “envy of Wall Street” fatally shot himself earlier this week.
Lee, 78, died of apparent suicide just after 11 a.m. Thursday in his office at his Fifth Avenue headquarters in New York.
According to Forbes, the Harvard graduate had a net worth of around $2 billion at the time of his death.
A source close to the family told the New York Post that of course they were in a “somber state,” while another said they were “suffering.”
The family, led by Lee’s wife Ann Tennenbaum, have accepted messages of condolence at their home on East 57th Street in Manhattan.
The family of billionaire Thomas H. Lee (pictured left) – including his wife Ann Tennenbaum (pictured right) – is said to be “suffering” after the “envy of Wall Street” fatally shot himself earlier this week
“I don’t think it’s a good time because they’re in a bleak state,” said the anonymous family friend.
Another neighbor said they spoke to Lee just two days earlier and that “no one seems to know” why the billionaire took his life.
First responders found Lee lying on his side with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and he was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. when paramedics’ life-saving efforts were unsuccessful. It is currently unclear why Lee took his own life.
The financier rose to prominence by buying up middle-market companies, restoring their value, and then selling them for massive profits — and his success led to being dubbed the “envy of Wall Street.”
After graduating from Harvard in 1965, he first worked as a securities analyst for the research department of LF Rothschild & Company.
He later switched to banking and worked for the First National Bank of Boston, where he rose to vice president and headed the bank’s high-tech lending group.
In 1974, nearly a decade into his career in finance, he founded Lee Equity. During this time he was recognized as one of the early pioneers in private equity and leveraged buyouts in particular.
Billionaire financier and investor Thomas H. Lee, 78, was found dead Thursday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He is pictured in his Manhattan office with what is said to be the famous Jeff Koons artwork Gazing Ball, which has an estimated value of up to $60,000
The NYPD responded at around 11:10 a.m. at 767 Fifth Avenue — where Thomas H. Lee Capital, LLC is located on the sixth floor — and found Lee’s body, it was reported
Thomas H. Lee, 78, pictured here with his wife Ann Tenenbaum in 2019, was found dead Thursday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound
He is best known for selling Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1992, which he initially acquired for $135 million. After investing $28 million in the business, he grew the company’s sales from $95 million to $750 million a year before later selling.
His leveraged buyout deals were legendary in the 1990s — groundbreaking financial transactions that in some cases enabled his company to see more than 30 times its profits in just a few years.
He reportedly went by the self-assigned nickname “Tomcat,” which he revealed at an event in 2014 because he’s had “nine different lives.”
Speaking to , a member of Lee’s building board, who has known the financier for 23 years, said Lee was known among those he met to have a “great sense of humour”.
“He was a great guy,” he said. “I’m just as shocked as everyone else. He was an extraordinary person, very successful and with a lovely family.
Lee, 78, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Fifth Avenue office yesterday
A fixture on the New York social scene, Lee is shown with Bob Kraft and Glenn and Eva Dubin (far right), both of whom were friends with Jeffrey Epstein
“He was very positive, very friendly, just a very nice guy… He was always laughing, always seeing the humor in everything, a great entertainer.”
Following news of Lee’s suicide, family spokesman Michael Sitrick released a statement: “The family is deeply saddened by Tom’s passing.
“While the world knew him as one of the private equity pioneers and successful businessman, we knew him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, sibling, friend and philanthropist who always put the needs of others ahead of his own.
“Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we may mourn.’
A 1997 Forbes profile described him as “the rare thing on Wall Street — a real nice guy.”
Lee is pictured golfing with then-President Bill Clinton on Martha’s Vineyard in 1999
Lee with former NBC host Matt Lauer and socialite Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo in 2005
Lee was known for owning one of the most prominent homes in East Hampton, New York
An insider who knew Lee told The Post that he is known for his business acumen and claimed he was the inspiration for Oliver Stone’s “Blue Horseshoe Loves Anacott Steel” from the hit film Wall Street.
The claim relates to the secret body language code used by character Gordon Gekko throughout the blockbuster hit.
Despite his ruthless reputation, the billionaire was also described by the source as “one of the most generous and kind people I’ve ever met.”
He has invested more than $15 billion in hundreds of transactions over the course of his career.
In 2010, a fund controlled by Lee was sued by a trustee seeking to recover money swindled by notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.
He was also known as a respected art collector and had connections to New York’s elite movers and shakers, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Lee reportedly let the couple stay at his mansion in East Hampton, New York, after Hillary’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid. His Hamptons home was known as one of the most prominent in the area.
A philanthropist and trustee, the billionaire has served on the boards of many organizations, including Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, Brandeis University, Harvard University, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Lee has been married twice – first in 1968 to Barbara Fish Lee. They had two children, Zach and Robbie, before divorcing in 1995.
He married his second wife Ann Tenenbaum of Savannah, Georgia in 1997 and they had three children: Jesse, Nathan and Rosalie. He was also survived by two grandchildren.