Mr. David-Weill was generally known as the “Solar King.” “The whole lot revolved round Michel at Lazard,” William D. Cohan, the creator of “The Final Tycoons: The Secret Historical past of Lazard Frères & Co.” (2007), stated in an interview.
Mr. Cohan labored at Lazard for six years. “To me it appeared like probably the most attention-grabbing and mysterious place on Wall Road. Non-public partnership, punching above its weight, small, elite, prestigious,” he stated. “It was like a Florentine guild.”
Ali Wambold, who joined Lazard as a vp in 1985 and have become a basic accomplice in 1987, stated that Mr. David-Weill “noticed himself as a gardener” and “was not particularly ruthless or sharp-elbowed.” And Mr. Jacobs stated, “I can’t ever keep in mind him being imperious.” Relatively, he stated, he remembered a relaxed, well mannered man who thrived in one-on-one settings.
After Lazard, Mr. David-Weill devoted himself to Eurazeo, the worldwide funding firm he formed in Paris in 2001.
“He fought quite a lot of battles,” stated Virginie Morgon, the chief govt of Eurazeo, including: “The battle that he fought in opposition to Bruce Wasserstein was most likely the hardest one, as a result of that was his legacy, and he needed to depart the financial institution. However that is somebody who by no means appeared again.”
Past the workplace, Mr. David-Weill was a philanthropist and a passionate artwork patron with a celebrated assortment. He was concerned with quite a few cultural establishments, together with as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork.
Along with his spouse, Mr. David-Weill is survived by 4 daughters, Béatrice, Natalie, Cécile and Agathe, and 11 grandchildren.
