Thomas Lee, a 78-year-old billionaire banker, has reportedly committed himself by shooting himself in the head.

The New York Post said that Lee was discovered shot in his office on the sixth floor of 767 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

The Post said that office access was severely restricted.

A building employee stated, “They don’t want anyone going to that space right now, not even the building staff.”

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City will announce the official cause of death.

Lee was among the first to profit from leveraged buyouts, in which a firm is acquired and subsequently sold for a profit.

He formed Thomas H Lee Partners in 1974, now known as THL, left it in 2005, and in 2006 he established Lee Equity Partners. He served as chairman until his death.

“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,” Michael Sitrick, representing the family, said in a statement.

“Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve,” he said.

His prior company referred to him as a pioneer.

“We are profoundly saddened by the unexpected passing of our good friend and former partner, Thomas H Lee,” THL wrote in a late-Thursday press release, as reported by the Financial Times.

“Tom was an iconic figure in private equity. He helped pioneer an industry and mentored generations of young professionals who followed in his footsteps,” according to the statement.

More on this story via The Western Journal:

One of Lee’s greatest successes was the purchase of Snapple for $135 million in 1992. Quaker Oats bought it in 1994 for $1.7 billion, according to CNN.

U.S. billionaire financier Thomas Lee dies at 78, family says https://t.co/YOqG2LlJ92

— CNBC (@CNBC) February 24, 2023

Lee’s net worth was about $2 billion, according to Forbes. CONTINUE READING…