LBO trailblazer Thomas H. Lee dies at 78

Leveraged buyout trailblazer Thomas H. Lee has died at 78, according to a Thursday statement from his family.

Lee helped lay the foundation for today's nearly $4.4 trillion private equity industry. The Harvard graduate spent the early part of his career in banking before founding buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners in 1974, reportedly with a $150,000 inheritance and a loan from his brother.

In 1996, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital reportedly bought a $1.01 billion majority stake in Experian, a credit-data subsidiary of TRW, and sold it less than a year later at $1.7 billion, marking a key milestone in the growth of the buyout industry. A contentious $135 million acquisition of beverage company Snapple in 1992 brought Lee's firm to wider prominence. It sold the company to Quaker Oats for $1.7 billion a mere two years later.

In a 1993 profile, The New York Times described Lee as "upfront, outgoing and thoughtful" with the "air of both a tireless salesman not always forthcoming and of a professor fond of explaining complex issues." It also referred to Lee as the "unofficial leader" in reverse LBOs—when a PE firm brings debt-heavy companies to the public market.

In 2006, Lee stepped down from the firm in accordance with a succession plan that officially began at the turn of the century and started Lee Equity Partners, a PE shop focused on business, financial and healthcare services, where he sat as chair until his death.

"The family is extremely saddened by Tom's death," Michael Sitrick, a family friend and spokesperson, said in the statement. "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."

THL also released a statement remembering its founder.

While the statements didn't include the details of his death, the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal reported that Lee died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Featured image by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

This article originally appeared on PitchBook News