Billionaire investor and friend of Clintons Thomas H. Lee dies of suicide

Thomas H. Lee, the 78-year-old billionaire financier and friend of the Clintons, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his New York City office on Thursday.

According to the New York Post, police sources said they responded to an emergency call from the Thomas H. Lee Capital LLC offices in Manhattan around 11:10 am, where he was found with a "single bullet wound to the head and his Smith & Wesson revolver next to him."



The official cause of death has yet to be confirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Lee is survived by his wife, Ann Tennenbaum, to who he had been married for 27 years. He also leaves his children Jesse, Zach, Nathan, Robbie, and Rosalie, and two grandchildren.

Lee's family friend and spokesperson Michael Sitrick made a statement expressing the family's sorrow about the untimely death, writing, "The family is extremely saddened by Tom's death. While the world knew him as one of the pioneers in the private equity business and a successful businessman, we knew him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, sibling, friend and philanthropist who always put others' needs before his own."

"Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve," he added.

Lee was a friend and close associate of former Bill and Hillary Clinton. According to the East Hampton Star, the powerful couple along with their daughter Chelsea stayed at Lee's oceanfront mansion after Hillary officially dropped out of the 2008 presidential race.

One close associate of Lee's who lived in the billionaire's Sutton Place apartment building in Manhattan and served with him on the board there told The Post that he was "shocked" by his death.

"I was in contact with him Wednesday — there was no indication [of strife], and I knew him for 20-23 years, the unnamed neighbor said.

"I'm as shocked as anybody. He was an extraordinary person, successful, has a lovely family, and they're all pretty damn good kids growing up, and they're well-educated," he continued. "You know, if you picked somebody [to commit suicide], I would have never picked him. He was very positive, very friendly, very nice guy."

Forbes valued Lee's net worth at about $2 billion, making him the 1,507th-wealthiest person in the world.

According to the publication, Lee was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and a Harvard alumnus who in 1974 founded Thomas H. Lee Partners, one of the world's oldest and largest private equity firms. After some time, Lee made his name by purchasing Snapple from its founders in 1992, which he later sold to Quaker Oats for an $899 million profit on his initial $28 million investment. His firm was later involved in deals to buy out Experian, Dunkin' Brands, Warner Music Group, and Houghton Mifflin, before Lee left to build a similar business called Lee Equity Partners, where he served as chairman until his death Thursday.

Lee is also credited with being one of the early pioneers in private equity and specifically leveraged buyouts.

According to the Post, Lee was known for donating to the arts and education, as well as serving as a trustee for several Big Apple art organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

"I've been lucky to make some money. I'm more than happy to give some of it back," Lee said in 1996 after donating $22 million to Harvard University, his alma mater.