'Born December 25, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, Bruce Wasserstein sadly died on October 14. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School, and was the Chairman and CEO of Lazard.

Born to Morris Wasserstein and his wife Lola Schleifer, Wasserstein is one of five children. Morris Wasserstein, a Jewish immigrant from pre-Nazi Poland, came to New York to start a ribbon company. Bruce had two late sisters: pioneering businesswoman Sandra Meyer and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, whose daughter he was raising.

Wasserstein helped broker more than a thousand M&A transactions worth $250 billion since the 1980s. Starting his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, he later rose to co-head of First Boston Corp's dominant M&A practice.

He later co-founded investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Co, which he sold in 2000 (at the top of the 1990s bull market) to Dresdner Bank for $1.4bn. He left Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein soon after for the top job at Lazard..

In 2005, Wasserstein completed Lazard's IPO, after getting into a corporate spat with Chairman Michel David-Weill, who once said that he regretted having ever hiring him.

Bruce Wasserstein controlled Wasserstein & Co, a private equity firm with investments in a number of industries, particularly media. In 2004, he added New York Magazine to his growing media empire. In July 2007, he sold American Lawyer Media to Incisive Media for about $630 million in cash.

After making a $25 million donation to Harvard Law School, the large academic wing of the school's new Northwest Corner complex will be named Wasserstein Hall, in his honor.

Forbes reported a year ago that Wasserstein's net worth was estimated to be $2.3 billion.

Wasserstein was divorced three times. In January 2009 he married his fourth wife, Angela Chao - one of four sisters of Elaine Chao, who was secretary of labor under George W. Bush.

On October 12, 2009 Wasserstein was admitted to hospital with an irregular heartbeat. It was originally reported that his condition was serious, but that he was stable and recovering. On October 14, 2009 he died'.

Source - Wikipedia

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