Billionaire Who Committed Suicide Allotted Just $25 Million Of His Massive Fortune In Will | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ashe Schow.

    Famed billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee, who committed suicide last month, listed just $25 million worth of his assets in his will.

    Lee, who was 78 when he died, is estimated to be worth $2 billion, so the $25 million allocated in his will would be a small fraction of his true net worth, the New York Post reported, citing court records. Lee named his wife, Ann Tenenbaum, whom he had been married to for nearly 30 years, as the executor of his estate. She will also inherit his residences, including an apartment in New York City's upscale Sutton Place neighborhood and an estate in East Hampton. She will also inherit all of his personal "tangible" property, including furniture, artwork, jewelry, cars, and more.

    The bulk of the $25 million was left to Lee's two sons, 52-year-old Stephen and 42-year-old Robert, who each received $10 million. Lee wrote that his sons would receive nothing else, "not for any lack of love or affection for each of them but because they are otherwise well provided for."

    Lee has three additional children, who are listed as the beneficiaries of trusts, and it is unclear how much those trusts are worth.

    Lee was discovered dead shortly after 11 a.m. on February 23 by an assistant who went looking for him when people hadn't heard from him. First responders found Lee lying on his side with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, law enforcement sources told The New York Post. A Smith & Wesson revolver registered and licensed to Lee was found at his side.

    "We are profoundly saddened by the unexpected passing of our good friend and former partner, Thomas H. Lee," said a statement issued by the company Lee founded in 1974. "Tom was an iconic figure in private equity. He helped pioneer an industry and mentored generations of young professionals who followed in his footsteps."

    It is unclear why Lee committed suicide.

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

    Lee was married with five children and "one of the most generous, and kindest people [I] ever met," a source who knew him told the Post.

    The source also said that Lee "was regarded as having one of the most admired houses in the Hamptons - Bill and Hillary Clinton were frequent guests, they would regularly stay there."

    Lee was known for his successful use of leveraged buyouts, or LBOs, CNN reported. LBOs involve a buyer borrowing money to make a purchase of a company, and then selling that company in a relatively short period for a higher price, sometimes through another buyer, or by taking the company public, CNN reported.

    One of Lee's most famous and lucrative deals was his acquisition of Snapple in 1992, which he purchased for $135 million. He then sold it two years later to Quaker Oats for $1.7 billion. He did this by reportedly increasing the company's sales and revenue from $95 million a year to $750 million. When Quaker sold Snapple after purchasing it from Lee, the company lost $1.4 billion in the deal.

    Lee was considered a rarity in the industry since his firm didn't take the usual steps to increase an acquired company's worth before selling, such as greatly cutting costs or implementing mass layoffs.