The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co

Home > Other > The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co > Page 94
The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co Page 94

by William D. Cohan


  utterly typical week: SEC, FGR's January 1969 calendar.

  "the grand rabbi": Jeremy Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice," originally published in the January 24, 1983, issue of The New Yorker.

  "who came from": Ibid.

  "would take to a desert island": FGR interview, WNYC, January 5, 2003.

  "rapidly lost": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

  "I mean, the Austrians": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "A very traumatic": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

  "I remember": Ibid.

  The story of Felix's escape: Ibid. and FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "the classic route": WSJ, October 10,1975.

  "We started driving": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "something I will never": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "And we thought, clearly": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "I have felt": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

  "It was a miracle": NYT, April 11,2005.

  "As the Germans": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "There were always": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "Securing these visas": NYT, April 11,2005.

  "looked very elegant": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "As a last step": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "There were not that many": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "I think that was": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "We went to": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

  "They thought this": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "I became enamored": FGR interview, WNYC, January 5, 2003, and July 6,2003.

  "My most basic feelings": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard," NYT Magazine, March 21, 1976.

  "That experience has left me": Bernstein: Allocating Sacrifice."

  "because they had": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "to try to talk us out": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "And this guy": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "I just stank": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "It was about": Patrick Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.

  Chapter 2. "Tomorrow, the Lazard House Will Go Down"

  "Entire business totally": Western Union Telegraph Company cable, April 20, 1906.

  "It is hardly": Western Union Telegraph Company cable, April 25, 1906.

  Together, on July 12, 1848: Partnership agreement.

  "business was so brisk": Lazard Freres & Co.: The First 150 Years (New York: Lazard Freres & Co., 1998), p. 13.

  "Gradually, the business": Ibid.

  "The intellectual horizon": Lazard Freres & Co., p. 15.

  "already learning": NYT, February 25,1898.

  "to see what kind of man": FAP.

  "There is a very real": FAP, Frank Altschul, Letter to George Blumenthal, October 21, 1918.

  "This would involve": FAP, "Exchange Situation," January 24, 1924.

  "As we do not desire": Ibid.

  "Using a $100 million": Darryl McLeod, "Capital Flight," in David R. Henderson, ed., The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics (New York: Warner Books, 1993).

  "Things are looking better": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, February 26, 1924.

  "My heartiest congratulations": FAP, Frank Altschul to Christian Lazard, March 13, 1924.

  "You can imagine": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, March 19, 1924.

  "All the time": Ibid.

  "a secret": Ibid.

  "sister firms...We have placed": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, March 27, 1924.

  "at the disposal of the Trust": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, February 26, 1924.

  "13 white, no black": NYSE, December 20, 1923.

  "Picasso of banking": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 18.

  "weak heart": Ibid., p. 24.

  "It called for a quick mind": Ibid., p. 25.

  "So it is with a clear head": NYT Magazine, September 21, 1924.

  "He just took everybody": Patrick Gerschel interview, January 20, 2005.

  "acquire, hold, sell": General American Investors Company Web site and FAP.

  "It seems to me": FAP, Albert Forsch to Frank Altschul, August 28, 1929.

  "An immediate consequence": R. S. Sayers, The Bank of England, 1891-1944 (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1976), vol. 2, p. 389.

  "There'll be a terrible time": Interview with a Lazard partner.

  "the irregularities to which": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931, released publicly for the first time in 2005 after my inquiry; Times (London), July 31, 2005.

  "another member of the staff": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931.

  "Tomorrow, the Lazard House": Interview with a Lazard partner.

  "put matters straight": Sayers, Bank of England, p. 530.

  "an Accepting House": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931.

  "would probably give rise to a state of panic": Ibid.

  "the matter should be kept secret": Ibid.

  "might unduly weaken": BOE minutes, July 18, 1931.

  "to find": Ibid.

  "Mr. Pearson feared": Ibid.

  "For a long time": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.

  "then gave to the other": Bank of England documents, Committee of Treasury, April 27, 1932.

  "The most remarkable part": Hugo Kindersley interview, May 4, 2005.

  "fair valuation for probate": Deloittes's evaluation of Lazard Brothers for estate of Lord Cowdray II, October 5,1933.

  "And the people of New York": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.

  cryptic cablegram: FAP, from London to Frank Altschul, August 10, 1931.

  "In the development": NYT, September 25, 1934, p. 38.

  "While investment bankers": Newsweek, October 6, 1934.

  "As you remember": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, July 20, 1936.

  "some of the questions": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill, July 29,1936.

  "The method was employed": FAP, Albert Forsch to Frank Altschul, August 1936.

  two-volume catalog: Gabriel Henriot, Collection David-Weill (Paris, 1926-27).

  "In remembrance of our": Ibid., in Avery Library, Columbia University School of Architecture.

  "David Weill was": Guy Wildenstein interview, October 28, 2005.

  "a large part" and "one of the most important": NYT, February 20, 1937, p. 19.

  "He had liberated his walls": Daniel Wildenstein, Marchands d'art (Paris: Plon, 1999), p. 30.

  The truth: MDW interview, April 12,2005.

  "a logical development": NYT, December 22, 1937, p. 39.

  "weighted with four telephones": Newsweek, October 6, 1934.

  "We all agreed": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, November 10,1938.

  "The object of my trip": Ibid.

  Chapter 3. Original Sin

  The ostensible reason for the change: MDW interview, April 12, 2005.

  "He wanted the power": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.

  "I suppose by now": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, August 16,1939.

  "I dislike hearing": Ibid.

  "I am wondering": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, December 20, 1939.

  "friendly cable": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, September 13,1939.

  "I therefore turn": Ibid.

  "Supplementing my letter": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, September 25, 1939.

  "all the matters of common": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, September 27, 1939.

  "I cannot tell you": FAP, Frank Altschul to David David-Weill, May 13,1940.

  Meyer sent his wife: Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 33.

  "Meyer had no illusions": Ibid., p. 33.

  "havoc": Philippe Meyer interview, as well as account of family's escape from Paris, February 1, 2005.

  "Mr. Harrington": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, June 2
7, 1940.

  "It is good to know": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, July 2, 1940.

  "There are people": FGR interview.

  At the outbreak of the war: MDW interview, April 12, 2005.

  "We are very patriotic": Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter," Vanity Fair, March 1997, p. 275.

  "When you have the run": Guy Wildenstein interview, October 28, 2005.

  "I unfortunately": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, August 14, 1940.

  October 1940: NYT, October 30, 1940, p. 7.

  "Aryan" control: NYT, February 23, 1941, p. 16.

  They fled Lyon: MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "When you are so busy": FAP, Frank Altschul to Wallace Phillips, October 6,1941.

  "Gordian knot" and "It is not only": FAP, Frank Altschul to Henry Styles Bridges, October 21, 1941.

  "may not like his friends": FAP, Frank Altschul to Adolph A. Berle, Sr., October 21, 1941.

  "Pierre Weil": FAP, Fletcher Warren to Frank Altschul, October 25, 1941.

  "after careful consideration": FAP, A.M. Warren to Frank Altschul, November 1, 1941.

  "Awaiting news from you": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, April 6, 1942.

  "urgent business trips": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, April 9,1942.

  "Distressed at all these delays": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill (date unknown).

  "should merely try to": FAP, Frank Altschul to Herbert Lehman, July 23,1942.

  "has not resulted": FAP, H. K. Trevers to Pierre David-Weill, August 22, 1942.

  Altschul shot off a letter: FAP, Frank Altschul to F. P. Keppel, October 14,1942.

  "in a huff": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "I was not completely foolish": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "It was wonderful": MDW interview, September 15, 2004.

  "My father told me": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "It was perfectly ordinary": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "It was all a great shock": Reich, Financier, p. 36.

  Simone Rosen: Simone Rosen interview, April 27, 2005.

  "Getting the RCA account": Patrick Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.

  "Dear Friends": FAP, Andre Meyer to Frank Altschul, et al., December 9, 1941.

  "On a practiced level": FAP, Andre Meyer to Frank Altschul, January 9,1942.

  "I hope that this time": Ibid.

  wrote to the State Department: FAP, Frank Altschul to F. P. Keppel, January 29, 1943.

  "have been treated": FAP, Robert Kindersley to Frank Altschul, February 13, 1942.

  "very appropriate reproof": FAP, Frank Altschul to Robert Kindersley, March 26,1942.

  "Pierre used to refer": Reich, Financier, p. 39.

  "In one year": Ibid., p. 39.

  Altschul would be "retiring": NYT, December 16, 1943.

  Altschul was voted out: Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.

  "that had become": Lazard Freres & Co.: The First 150 Years (New York: Lazard Freres & Co., 1998), p. 30.

  "I don't think the control": Reich, Financier, p. 41.

  "He looks at": Robert Agostinelli interview, May 31, 2005.

  "Many thanks for": Frank Altschul to Robert Kindersley, December 20, 1943.

  "You no doubt": FAP, Frank Altschul to David David-Weill, October 16,1944.

  He never received a reply: FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, May 23,1945.

  "The trip was abominable": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, May 16,1945.

  "deepest sympathy": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill, June 22,1945.

  "Berthe deeply touched": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, July 27,1945.

  "It is such a long time": FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, July 17,1952.

  "What Andre Meyer": Reich, Financier, pp. 41-42.

  "He wanted to make this": Ibid., p. 42.

  Chapter 4. "You Are Dealing with Greed and Power"

  "He wanted to be able": Reich, Financier, p. 21.

  lived in hotels, too: Lazard Freres & Co. office directory, November 1,1977.

  "Andre was not a rich man": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 33.

  "You know, Andre": Ibid., p. 52.

  "The Lazard offices": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard," NYT, March 21,1976.

  "in some rarefied social circles": Michael Jensen, "The Lazard Freres Style," NYT, May 28, 1972.

  "In many ways": Reich, Financier, p. 18.

  "He had kind of a crazy": Francois Voss interview, January 31, 2005.

  "He works at the top": Anthony Sampson, The Sovereign State: The Secret History of ITT (London: Coronet Books, 1974), p. 72.

  "Behind that stern": Reich, Financier, p. 356.

  "Andre carried with him": FGR interview, May 25, 2005.

  Brooks Brothers shirts: Mel Heineman interview.

  "chewed me out": Reich, Financier, p. 186.

  "I wasn't dare gonna": Interview with Frank Zarb, April 27, 2005.

  "Andre, you are the most": Interview with Zarb; and Ron Chernow, The Warburgs (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 554.

  "a dangerous place to work": David Supino interview, June 21, 2004.

  "In some sense": Interview with a Lazard partner, although this idea is mentioned in numerous articles about both Felix and Andre.

  "the first two are really one": NYT, September 11, 1979, but first in T. A. Wise, "In Trinity There Is Strength," Fortune, August 1968.

  "Oh yes, Andre had": Reich, Financier, p. 98.

  "very common knowledge": Ibid., p. 100.

  "She would get away": Ibid.

  "I think my grandfather": Ibid., p. 101.

  "It's very possible": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

  "Jackie opened up his life": Reich, Financier, p. 259.

  "His name constantly": Ibid.

  "These Kennedys": Ibid., p. 258.

  "I think he was probably upset": Ibid., p. 262.

  "she was very sad": Ibid., p. 356.

  "It was a monster": Ibid., p. 58.

  20 percent of Les Fils Dreyfus: SEC documents

  "I have this stepson": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "I said to myself": Ibid.

  "Andre yanked me": Ibid.

  "He made it crystal clear": Jeremy Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice," NY, January 24, 1983.

  "Andre also had": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

  "Andre said to me": Ibid.

  "This was summer": Ibid.

  "Well, this was a time": Ibid.

  "It was done": Ibid.

  "Take the pay cut": Ibid.

  "I went to work": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

  "Rohatyn is in total": Sampson, Sovereign State, p. 73.

  Chapter 5. Felix the Fixer

  "Get in the car": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 109.

  "I get a call one day": Ibid., p. 110.

  "That is the top salary": Ibid., p. 112.

  "These people felt": Ibid., p. 113.

  "Townsend would torture Meyer": Ibid., p. 117.

  "I'm ahead of your plan": Ibid.

  "You insist on this?": Ibid., p. 118.

  "I'm terribly allergic": Several press reports, among them Washington Post, September 11, 1979, and NYT, October 28, 1965.

  For Felix, the Avis payoff: CC report contains a plethora of documentation about the Lazard-Avis deal produced in connection with the House Antitrust Subcomittee's hearings on conglomerates.

  "You have been screwed": Reich, Financier, p. 119.

  "Nobody ever got poor": Ibid.

  "If you have a good company": Robert Townsend, Up the Organization (New York: Knopf, 1970).

  "Even those who hate": Forbes, May 1, 1968.

  "Gentlemen, I have been thinking": Jack Anderson, The Anderson Papers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974), p. 48.

  ITT acquired 110 companies: CC report.

  "pra
ctically an employee": Reich, Financier, p. 233.

  "the best man always to placate": SEC files about Lazard's relationship with ITT. The SEC has some thirty-four unindexed, unorganized boxes of documents from its two multiyear investigations. The file, made available under the Freedom of Information Act, is labeled HO-536.

  "Geneen is a very difficult": Reich, Financier, p. 232.

  "Actually, we were entitled": Ibid., p. 237.

  "Apparently Levitt's forte": CC report.

  "Mr. Levitt is apparently": Ibid.

  "they are already active": Ibid.

  "This is an internal": Ibid., FGR's testimony.

  "The thing that strikes me": Interview with a Lazard banker.

  "Working for Felix was very difficult": Interview with a Lazard banker.

  "Working for Felix was a death sentence": Interview with a Lazard banker.

  "No, David, you are wrong": Interview with David Supino, October 8, 2006.

  "a small list of questions": CC report.

  "L. is unique": Ibid.

  "The Levitt stock": Ibid.

  "This is probably just as well": Ibid.

  "It may be that alternatives": Ibid.

  "the assistance of a few advisers": Ibid.

  "Our corporate clients": Ibid.

  "Lazard will, from time to time": Ibid.

  "In this connection": Ibid.

  "Typically, we are asked": Ibid.

  "As I tried to indicate": Ibid.

  "I would say that": Ibid.

  "No, sir": Ibid.

  "We don't view ourselves": Ibid.

  "While it is highly technical": Ibid.

  "Yes, sir": Ibid.

  "You should come": NYT, July 18,2004.

  "the worst of the paperwork": NYSE annual report, 1969.

  "We were looking at the world": NYT, January 24, 1971.

  "a bunch of blue bloods": Monica Langley, Tearing Down the Walls (New York: Free Press, 2003), p. 23.

  "never heard of them": Ibid.

  "At 9:15 that morning": NYT, January 24, 1971.

  "The brokerage firm found": NYT, March 28, 1971.

  "If you don't tell me the facts": NYT, March 24, 1971.

  "If DuPont had failed": NYT, March 28, 1971.

  "I'm sort of going through": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.

  "We just threw money in": NYT, March 24, 1971.

  "And nobody ever said": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.

  "The questions raised": NYT, June 21, 1971; and FGR letter to Robert Haack, June 11, 1971.

  "We had a house on fire": FGR congressional testimony, House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance, August 2 and 3, 1971, p. 144.

 

‹ Prev