Bruce Wasserstein

Wasserstein was born and raised in Midwood, Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lola (née Schleifer) and Morris Wasserstein.^[4] His father, a Jewish immigrant from pre-World War II Poland, settled in New York City and started a ribbon company.^[5] His maternal grandfather was Simon Schleifer, a Jewish teacher in the yeshiva in Wloclawek, Poland who later immigrated to Paterson, New Jersey and became a Hebrew school principal.^[6]

Wasserstein had four siblings: businesswoman Sandra Wasserstein Meyer (died in 1998); Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein (whose daughter, Lucy Jane, he was raising at the time of his death); Abner Wasserstein (died 2011); and Georgette Levis (died 2014), who was married to psychiatrist Albert J. Levis.^[7][8][9]

Wasserstein attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush for high school.^[10] He was a graduate of the McBurney School,^[11] University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School, and spent a year at the University of Cambridge.

Starting his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Wasserstein then moved to First Boston Corp. in 1977 and eventually rose to co-head of that company's then-dominant merger and acquisition practice.^[12] In 1988, with colleague Joseph Perella, he left First Boston to form investment bank boutique Wasserstein Perella & Co.,^[13] which he sold in 2000, at the top of the late 1990s bull market, to Germany's Dresdner Bank for around $1.4 billion in stock.^[14] In 2002, he left the unit Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (formed by merging Dresdner's United Kingdom unit Kleinwort Benson with Wasserstein Perella) to become head of the financial services firm Lazard.^[15] In 2005, he led the initial public offering of Lazard and became the public firm's first chairman and CEO.^[16]

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 media empire. In July 2007, he sold American Lawyer Media to Incisive Media for about $630 million in cash.^[17] He was credited with the term "Pac-Man defense", which is used by targeted companies during a hostile takeover attempt.

In 2007, Wasserstein made a $25 million donation^[18] to Harvard Law School, for the creation of a large academic wing of the school's Northwest Corner complex, which was named Wasserstein Hall.

According to Forbes, as of September 17, 2008, Wasserstein's net worth was estimated to be $2.3 billion.^[19]

As of 2008, he owned an apartment at 927 Fifth Avenue in New York City, an estate in Santa Barbara in California, an Atlantic oceanfront estate in East Hampton (Long Island), a house at 38 Belgrave Square in London, and another apartment in Paris.^[20]

Wasserstein was married four times and has seven biological children:^[7]

• Laura Lynelle Killin (married 1968, divorced 1974).^[7]
• Christine Parrott (divorced 1992). They had three children: Ben, Pam and Scoop.^[7] Christine is a psychoanalyst and has since remarried to American journalist and newspaper publisher Dan Rattiner.^[21]
• Claude Becker (married 1996, divorced 2008). They had two sons: Jack and Dash.^[7] Prior to her marriage to Wasserstein, Claude was an Emmy Award-winning CBS news producer. After Bruce's death Claude took in Lucy, his sister Wendy's daughter.^[22]
• Angela Chao (married 2009, up until Wasserstein's death).^[7] She was the sister of Elaine Chao, who is married to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell.^[7]

Wasserstein's political position was liberal. He was involved with media since high school and college, when he was an editor on his high school newspaper, The McBurneian (McBurney School, New York),^[23] and later at the University of Michigan Michigan Daily, then served an internship at Forbes magazine. Inspired by Ralph Nader, he was one of "Nader's Raiders" for a brief length of time. Rahm Emanuel and Vernon Jordan were employed by Wasserstein for a few years.^[24] Wasserstein also served as trustee for the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from 2001 until his death.

On October 11, 2009, Wasserstein was admitted to a hospital with an irregular heartbeat, likely caused by aconitum poisoning.^[25][26][27] It was originally reported that his condition was serious, but that he was stable and recovering.^[28] However, Wasserstein died in Manhattan three days later, on October 14, at the age of 61.^[29]

• Wasserstein, Bruce (2001). Big Deal: Mergers and Acquisitions in the Digital Age. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-52268-6.
• Wasserstein, Bruce (1998). Big Deal: The Battle for the Control of America's Leading Corporations. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-67521-0.
• Wasserstein, Bruce (1978). Corporate Finance Law: A Guide for the Executive. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-068423-5.
• Wasserstein, Bruce; Mark J. Green (1970). With Justice for Some: An Indictment of the Law by Young Advocates. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-0541-X.

• "Wasserstein Haunts Harry & David in Buyout Doomed to Bankruptcy..."
• "King of the Barbarians arrives at the Pearly Gates"
• New York Daily News obituary
• "Bruce Wasserstein dies at 61"
• Wasserstein & Co. site
• Wasserstein was editor on high school newspaper The McBurneian
• Daily Telegraph obituary
• Wasserstein went from Nader acolyte to Wall Street legend in the Harvard Law Record