Billionaire Thomas H. Lee has been found dead in his New York office. According to police sources, he had a gunshot wound to the headbut everything indicates that it was a suicide.
A Harvard University graduate, Thomas H. Lee, 78, headed Lee Equity Partners, private equity firm he founded in 2006. Throughout his career he was a director of numerous public and private companies, including Aimbridge Hospitality, General Nutrition Companies, K-MAC Enterprises, Metris Companies, MidCap Financial, Papa Murphy’s, Playtex Products, Snapple Beverage, The Edelman Financial Group, Vail Resorts , Vertis Holdings, Warner Music Group and Wyndham International, among others.
In 1994 he rose to fame for the sale of Snapple iced tea brand for 1.7 billion dollars. Thomas H. Lee completed the transaction two years after purchasing it, “with a return of 32 times the capital stock.”
Lee led a deal in 1999 for what came to be called Vertis Communications, the fifth largest printing company in North America. However, the company began to become obsolete in 2006 in the face of its competitors who had decided to expand the business with other services, such as marketing. Vertis filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
At the time of his death, Lee’s net worth was estimated at $2 billion, according to Forbes.
In addition to his facet as a businessman, Lee was a well-known philanthropist. He sat as a trustee of several Big Apple arts organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Artsthe Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
“I have been lucky enough to earn some money. I am more than happy to return part of that, “commented the billionaire in 1996 after donate 22 million dollars to his alma materHarvard University, one of the largest gifts the center received from a still living alumnus.
